CAIRO: Supporters of the “No Military Trials for Civilians” campaign gathered on Qasr al-Nil Bridge Sunday night in Cairo to express their support for the thousands of civilians who have been detained and subjected to military trials by the interim Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). Demonstrators lined the sidewalk of the bridge wielding signs expressing support for detained activists and denouncing the use of military trials against civilians. The demonstration came on the same day that renowned Egyptian blogger and activist, Alaa Abdel Fattah, received a new 15-day detention and fellow blogger Maikel Nabil's trial was postponed again until later this month. Nabil also entered his 82nd day of a hunger strike in protest to the military trial and sentence handed to him earlier this year. Fattah was detained in late October and charged with “inciting violence” at the October 9 military attack on a Coptic Christian protest. “He [Fattah] is an icon of the Revolution,” stated a demonstrator, who wished to remain anonymous, to Bikyamasr.com. “He has more courage than the rest of us,” he added. Although Fattah has garnered much of the attention by the media, demonstrator George Kalliny, a 23-year-old aerospace engineer, told Bikyamasr.com that “we need to remember to support other political prisoners, not just Alaa Abdel Fattah.” BM
