CAIRO: Dubbed Egypt's first political prisoner in the post-revolution period, blogger Maikel Nabil Sanad stayed in his cell on Tuesday, boycotting a retrial session at a military court. The blogger, who is almost two months into a hunger strike, said he would rather “commit suicide” that bow to the demands of the military rulers of the country. His brother, Mark, told reporters at the court that the case against Maikel Nabil has turned into a “military soap opera” with the young blogger's continued detention and hunger strike capturing the country's activists' attention in recent weeks after largely ignoring his plight for months. Nabil was sentenced to a three-year jail term for insulting the Egyptian military in a blog post published last March. He has been on a prison hunger strike since August 23, has been denied a transfer to a humane hospital and remains imprisoned. A few days ago he started to refuse water as well, as his health rapidly deteriorates. Nabil, a Coptic Christian, holds controversial political views. As such, he has received little attention from the activist and pro-rights community in Egypt. The blogger supports Egyptian normalization with Israel, causing him to receive harsh criticism. He came under fire when he evaded military conscription in 2010 on the grounds that he is a pacifist and sympathetic to Israeli troops. “I don't want to point a weapon at a young Israeli, recruited into obligatory service, defending his state's right to exist. I think obligatory service is a form of slavery,” he wrote in a blog post then. Human rights groups and activists have called for the immediate release of the blogger, stating that he is a prisoner of conscience, unduly held. ** Sarah Sheffer contributed to this report. BM
