CAIRO: Egypt's Supreme State Security Prosecution, a civilian court, has decided to detain Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah for another 15 days of investigations into charges that the man was involved in inciting violence at the October 9 Coptic Christian Maspero protest, in which a vicious military crackdown on protesters left 27 dead and nearly 300 wounded. Alaa Abd el-Fattah, a prominent Egyptian blogger, has been vocal in his stance against Egypt's military rulers. He was summoned to an Egyptian military court for questioning on October 31, weeks after the incident. Egypt's interim military rulers, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), dismissing any accountability for the violence that took place at Maspero, alleged that Alaa had stolen weapons from soldiers and assaulted officers on the night of the protest. Another two weeks after the initial summoning, a military eyewitness, Fahmy Abdel Aziz, came forward claiming that he saw Abdel Fattah dump weapons into the Nile River and assault members of the Egyptian military. Activists and eyewitnesses came forward to condemn the testimony as false. Abdel Fattah defiantly refused to stand testimony in front of the court on the day of his initial summoning, denying the authority of Egypt's controversial military courts and refusing to acknowledge the fabricated charges against him. The military authorities subsequently detained him for a 15-day period of investigations. The sentencing was renewed again on November 13. When he was transferred to a civilian court on November 28, it was renewed again. The detention of the blogger has been a particular point of contention for those angry with the nation's military rulers. Egypt's military courts are notorious for their harsh sentencing and lack of proper legal proceedings. An Egyptian rights group estimates that 12,000 Egyptian civilians have been tried and sentenced in these courts since the SCAF took power in February. The defendants often appear before military judges by the dozen, and are not granted access to legal council or witness testimony. Verdicts of the courts may not be appealed, and the trials often take place in private. Meanwhile, international human rights groups have chimed in to demand the immediate release of the detained blogger. “Instead of identifying which members of the military were driving the military vehicles that crushed 13 Coptic protesters, the military prosecutor is going after the activists who organized the march,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Abdel Fattah's detention is a blatant effort to target one of the most vocal critics of the military. The prosecutor's acts further entrench military impunity by failing to build public confidence that there will be a transparent investigation of those responsible for the deaths,” she continued. BM
