CAIRO/ WASHINGTON: Human Rights Watch accused Egypt's military on Thursday of escalating a crackdown on critics, after it decided to try an activist for insulting the ruling generals. Asmaa Mahfouz, an activist and blogger involved in the uprising earlier this year that toppled president Hosni Mubarak, will be tried by a military court for defamation, a judicial source said this week. Mahfouz is yet to receive an official notification of the referral of her case to court. She was questioned Sunday for "speaking inappropriately about the military council and for using defamatory and offensive insults against the council on Facebook and Twitter," the official MENA news agency had reported. "The military prosecutor's decision to prosecute the youth leader Asmaa Mahfouz for 'insulting the military' is a serious escalation of efforts by military leaders to silence critical voices," the New York-based rights group said in a statement. "The Mahfouz case is the latest in a series of moves prosecuting critical expression by the military, which is increasingly setting narrower and narrower limits on what it permits," it said. The United States expressed similar concerns Wednesday. "We are concerned by the charges against Asmaa Mahfouz," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters. "The United States believes that all individuals should be allowed to peacefully exercise their right of freedom of expression," she added. "We're also concerned by reports of other democracy activists being summoned to appear before a military tribunal," Nuland said. Mahfouz was a co-founder of the April 6 youth movement which had called for the January 25 street protests that led to the ousting of Mubarak 18 days later, ending his 30 years of autocratic rule. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has ruled Egypt since the fall of Mubarak on Feb. 11. Nuland said the United States "strongly support a democratic transition in Egypt." Such a transition is "both positive and necessary, and real democratic change in Egypt will serve the long-term interests of Egypt, of the region, of our relationship," Nuland said. "But democracy is not only about elections. It's also about freedom of speech, it's about freedom of assembly, it's about respect for the rights of minorities, and strong and accountable institutions," she said. The military council has come under much criticism from pro-democracy activists in Egypt, who suspect it will delay a transition to civilian government. It has also been criticized for summoning journalists over their reporting and arresting them during protests.
