CAIRO: The No Military Trials group yesterday stepped up the momentum in its campaign, presenting family members of military detainees at a conference chaired by Mohammad Abd Al-Qaddous of the Journalists' Syndicate. Ahmad Darrag of the National Gathering for Change, who this week rejected a summons to appear before the military prosecutor in relation to the Maspero killings, also spoke. Close relatives of a dozen prisoners condemned or under trial by military courts spoke at the conference, and many more family members were in attendance. The event started with a short film about military trials and the Maspero killings. The footage was obviously new to some of those in attendance: there were gasps of horror in the hall as it showed one of the army armoured personnel carriers ploughing into the demonstration. The anger of some of the attendees boiled over as the subsequent military press conference was shown. One middle-aged woman shouted, “We're laughing!” and “Lies!” A young man in the front row stood up and led a chant of “Revolutionary anger… is coming! Friday… is coming!” The first to speak were relatives of those arrested and charged after Maspero. One told how they had searched for their relative at length, in the hospital and mortuary and elsewhere, before eventually finding out that he was imprisoned by the military police. Ahmad Darrag, of the National Gathering for Change, said that the issue was the young people who were unjustly imprisoned as a result of unfair military trials. He queried the legal validity of the emergency law and military trials. His being summoned by the military prosecutor in relation to Maspero, Darrag said, was itself evidence that all those charged and imprisoned were innocent. “This cause is the cause of the whole Egyptian people, and I will make no concessions until those young people return to their homes.” Darrag was followed by the mother of Ahmad Hassan, a Cairo municipal employee who was charged by the military prosecutor in relation to the storming of the Israeli embassy. Pointing at a picture of a young man in a suit that was hanging behind the podium, she said, “They accused Ahmad Hassan of being a thug (baltaji). Is that what a thug looks like? … If he looks like a thug, all the municipal employees are thugs!” She said she had confirmation that her son had been in work at the time of the events at the embassy. Also speaking was Ahmad Seif, father of Alaa Abdel Fattah, who sarcastically thanked the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces “who have united us all.” Seif declared that “whoever wants to give the army a protected position in the constitution is against the revolution, whatever his political allegiance. Whoever wants to give the army a political role and let it act at will as regards the elections is against the revolution, whatever his political position.” A manifesto was circulated for signature during the conference, committing the signatories to refusing to appear before the military prosecutor. Speaking to Bikyamasr.com, one of the organizers of the conference, Shahira Abu Leil, said that their aim was “to have a dialogue with the public so that we can be sure everyone knows what's going on. We're trying to circulate information. We're trying to give the families a platform on which to tell their stories because they're all very heartbreaking stories, and they don't get a chance to tell their stories.” Abu Leil felt that the movement had regained momentum after Maspero and “the abduction of Abu Seif. And I think people are beginning to come to the conclusion that the interests of this country and the interests of the supreme council can never coexist, can never move in the same direction.” Abu Leil accepted that there was popular support for SCAF, but said that it was declining. “Anyone who knows anything about what's going on in the country these days has very little respect for the army.” Many people were expressing support for SCAF out of fear, and others actually supported it out of fear of the Islamic tendency, but “those are not our only two options.” After the conference, a number of speakers and attendees stood on the steps of the Journalists' Syndicate chanting slogans against military rule, in a scene reminiscent of the few highly limited protests that were possible under Mubarak's rule. The No Military Trials group is also planning a demonstration this evening, setting off from Dokki Square at 6.30 PM and heading to Tahrir Square. NM
