CAIRO: As large crowds of up to 1500 supporters and lawyers gathered amidst ultra strict security at Huckstepp military base outside Cairo on Sunday for the second session of the military tribunal against 33 prominent members of the banned organization the Muslim Brotherhood, the trial was soon announced postponed until July 15. The detainees will reportedly not be released pending trial as requested by the defense. Coordinator of the defense team, Abdul Moneim Abdul Maqsoud, stated that the adjournment of the session was expected. Maqsoud also expects that the court process will be long. Furthermore, a delegation of monitors from both local and international human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch tried to enter the trial, but were immediately denied court access by security officials due to alleged security concerns, said members of the delegation. "We have been prevented entry to the trial by several security officers who are telling us that today's hearing is a 'secret session'. We have waited at this parking lot for the past five hours now, Elijah Zarwan from Human Rights Watch told The Daily Star Egypt. Zarwan added that no members of the press were allowed inside the court room. The Muslim Brotherhood reported that only 20 members of the 200-member strong defense panel were allowed into the court room. Foreign legal specialists including Ramzi Clark, former US Attorney General, and Canadian lawyer Faisal Kotli were reportedly barred from entry by security officials. In addition, family members of the detainees were allegedly subject to harassment and stripped of their mobile and camera phones before they could enter the trial, the Brotherhood stated on their website ikhwanweb.com. The majority of the detainees are powerful high-ranking members of the banned organization, including third-ranking member of the movement, Khayrat El-Shater and Brotherhood Executive Bureau member Mohamed Ali Beshr. While no official charges against the detainees, members of the Muslim Brotherhood argue that accusations include money laundering, terrorism, and 'attempts to revive the ideas of an outlawed organization'. The Brotherhood's Ibrahim El-Houdaiby called the accusations 'ridiculous' and 'outrageous' in a previous interview. Since the arrest of the detainees in late 2006 and early 2007, civilian courts have acquitted them several times. Most recently, an Administrative Court in Cairo freed the detainees of all charges on May 7 stating in a landmark court verdict that the referral of civilians to military tribunals is 'unconstitutional'. The verdict was overruled after two weeks, however, when the Supreme Administrative Court ruled 'that the Egyptian president has the right to transfer civilians to military tribunals'. The Supreme Administrative Court s verdict goes with the constitution after its changes that the Egyptian people agreed on, said Haidar El Boghdady, a parliament member belonging to the National Democratic Party to The Daily Star Egypt in a previous interview. During the weekend, protestors staged demonstrations in both Cairo and London denouncing the referral of civilians to military tribunals. Blogger and journalist Hossam El-Hamalawy told The Daily Star Egypt that approximately 250 members of the Muslim Brotherhood and opposition movement Kefaya held a rally outside the Lawyers Syndicate in downtown Cairo on Saturday night, attracting the attention from the Central Security Forces. According to El-Hamalawy, Security forces surrounded the entire area around the Lawyers Syndicate making it appear as 'an occupied city'. While approximately 1000 demonstrators from the Brotherhood were expected at the rally, El-Hamalawy said only a third of them showed up 'probably due to threats from State Security'. In London, around 50 protesters from a range of political affiliations gathered in front of the Egyptian Embassy in London on Friday to rally against the trying of Muslim Brotherhood leaders in military tribunals, according to a report from Ikwanweb.com. Last week, New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch released video interviews with former Brotherhood detainees arguing that the Egyptian government has 'intensified its arrest campaign against the Muslim Brotherhood ahead of elections to the upper house of Parliament' also coinciding with the military tribunal of some of the organization's top leaders. The eight video interviews titled 'Faces of a Crackdown' are shocking accounts of severe human rights abuses as former Brotherhood detainees recount earlier detentions plagued by repeated torture and abuse. "I remember them hitting me with an instrument called 'the Sudanese Whip' during interrogation. I do not know how to describe it exactly but it left you bloody and ripped all your clothes. There was also 'the Doll', a tool to which we were crucified and hit until we bled. The interrogators used to poor salt and alcohol into our wounds. That's how every interrogation went about, Rashad Al-Bayumi, a Geology Professor at Cairo University and former Brotherhood detainee suspected of 'attempting to overthrow the regime' said in one of the video interview. Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Division, Joe Stork, emphasized that while 'Egyptians can and do debate the sincerity and extent of the Muslim Brotherhood's commitment to democracy', the government's repression of the group 'flouts fundamental human rights and freedoms'. To watch the video interviews, please visit: http://hrw.org/video/2007/egypt05
