Head of military judiciary general Adel Morsy said that Alaa Abdel Fattah is facing charges in the recent Maspero events that include theft of a weapon belonging to the military forces, deliberate vandalism of funds and property belonging to the military forces, violence against public employees and members of the armed forces entrusted with public service, as well as gathering and the use of force and violence against members of the armed forces. Here I wonder: Does the general, head of military judiciary really believe that those charges are to be taken seriously? I have reasons to wonder, one of which for today is the manner by which Alaa has been summoned to appear in front of military prosecution. On Sunday the 23rd of October, i.e. two weeks after the Maspero events, the prosecution sent a note to Alaa requesting his appearance at the prosecution on Tuesday the 25th of October. His lawyers informed the prosecution that Alaa was out of the country. The prosecution agreed to postpone the date to Sunday the 30th of October. The details of the developments on the 30th of October have been previously published and covered in several articles. So I shall not burden you, general, nor the reader, by recalling them. Then lately, on Thursday the 3rd of November 2011 the military court rejected an appeal by Alaa Abdel Fattah of the military prosecution's decision to keep him in custody for 15 days on account of the investigations in the Maspero case. All media coverage of this development included a listing of the previously mentioned accusations of Alaa. Allow me to return to my question: the prosecuting suspects that Alaa has stolen a weapon that belongs to the military forces. What is the expected action in this case? Naïve people like me would think that a force is immediately sent to arrest him, search his home and maybe other places in search for the allegedly stolen weapon. But the prosecution does not do any of that. It sends him a note, two weeks after the events, that very politely requests him to come tomorrow, and if he can't, then one week later. No problem. What is the explanation of the general, head of the military judiciary, of this extraordinary conduct of the prosecution? What is the explanation of any average person? What is yours, for example, dear reader? - Laila Soueif BM
