CAIRO: A military tribunal referred Monday an unconfirmed number of suspects to civilian courts, while 230 who were tried in military courts had their sentences suspended. Egyptian state television said Monday afternoon that the head of the ruling military council Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi suspended the prison sentences of 230 civilians tried in military courts. "Continuous pressure is the key," member of No to Military Trials campaign Shahira Abouellail told Daily News Egypt Monday, adding that the support of almost all the political forces and movements was crucial to the cause. "We were notified that numbers [of civilians] were referred Monday to civilian courts, which is the heart of our cause," Abouellail said. "The e-protest we launched to elicit comments on the Facebook pages of the ruling military and the Cabinet was very effective, and we are working on a TV ad to further promote the cause," she added. Over 100,000 comments were posted on the Facebook page of the ruling military council last Saturday as part of an online protest on social media websites against military trials for civilians. "This is the first time an organized electronic protest is launched on both Twitter and Facebook against military trials," Evronia Azer, coordinator of “No to Military Trials for Civilians” in Alexandria, told Daily News Egypt on Sunday. Abouellail said most presidential hopefuls appear in the planned TV ad announcing their support for the campaign. Negotiations are still underway regarding when and which channels will air it. Mounir Yousry, whose case was referred from military to civilian court Monday, went through many difficulties to reach this point, his mother told DNE. "He was arrested in a normal fight that broke out between one of his friends, Abdel Rahman, and another man. They were referred to Nasr City police station where they were badly beaten," the mother said. Mounir was kept at the police station until he was referred to the military prosecution. "The military prison declined to take my son and two of his friends due to their bad injuries and had to wait until their wounds healed," she added. Mounir's case was adjourned several times over two months, where he was falsely charged with weapons possession, according to his mother. "They were not holding any guns, just a normal fight broke out between three young men," she said. "His case was adjourned to Sept. 4 to hear the testimony of the officer who arrested him. “We were delivering some food for him today [Monday] when we were told that he, along with his two friends, will be referred to a civil court," she added. Mounir's mother filmed her testimony for a video now circulating on social networking websites.
