CAIRO: Activists and supporters of the No Military Trials for Civilians group were attacked on Wednesday outside Torah prison where activist Alaa Abdel Fattah is currently being held. The activists said they planned the stand to support the civilians who are “wrongly being tried by the military” instead of their normal place in front of civilian authorities. The activists said a group of people started hurling rocks and empty bottles at them while they were protesting in front of the prison. Activists from the protest said the men told them that it was wrong to try and free “army attackers.” Fattah, a prominent political activist and blogger, is being held for 15 days inside the prison for refusing to be interrogated by a military prosecutor and asking for a civilian one. He is accused of attacking the army on October 9 – the day when the armed forces opened fire on Coptic Christian protesters, killing 27 people – and stealing army weapons, among other charges, which activists say all wrong. Among the protesters was Fattah's mother, also a political activist, who entered a hunger strike over the imprisonment of her son three days ago, and more activists joined her strike on Wednesday. The activists who had to move away from the attackers, said they merely wanted to support their colleagues inside the prison on the last day of the Eid el-Adha holiday. BM
