CAIRO: Protester Amr Abdullah El-Behairy was sentenced to five years in prison by a military court for attacking an officer during the army's violent crackdown on Tahrir Square protesters last Saturday. Laila Soueif, a Cairo University professor, filed earlier a complaint to the prosecutor general against the detention and maltreatment El-Behairy by military police. "El-Behairy was first charged with possessing a weapon, and then the military police modified the charge to attacking a military officer," said Gamal Eid, lawyer and director of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI). Soueif said in her complaint that the charges were fabricated to cover up El-Behairy's severe injuries, which she had documented. "I do not understand how the army put a civilian on trial and issued a court ruling in three days, without even having a lawyer to defend El-Behairy," said Eid. "The army is bringing us back again to the practices of State Security." Eid said that human rights activists are trying to find a way out for El-Behairy, either through legal means or media mobilization. Although the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces apologized for the use of violence, it later said in a statement that some thugs were throwing stones and bottles at the military to create a rift between the army and the people. "There were some infiltrators who are trying to ruin the success of the revolution,” the statement read.
