CAIRO: Blogger and activist Maikel Nabil has refused for the second time to appear before a military tribunal, which led to the adjournment of his retrial to Nov.13. A military court had previously sentenced Nabil, who has been on hunger strike for almost 70 days, to three years in prison in April. But in early October the court dropped the prison sentence and ordered a retrial, also in a military court after an apology presented by Nabil's father to the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). Nabil faces charges of insulting the armed forces and spreading false news in a blog post titled "The army and the people are not one hand". In the first retrial session defense witnesses were supposed to give their testimonies. "The witnesses include Dr. Osama El-Ghazaly Harb, founding member of the Democratic Front Party, to which Nabil belongs," Mark Nabil, Maikel's brother, told Daily News Egypt. "The request to adjourn the case was presented by a lawyer appointed by the court, as both Maikel and his lawyers have refused to appear before a military court," Mark said. Nabil refused to have six human rights lawyers represent him unless he is referred to a civilian court, member of the "Free Maikel Nabil" Campaign Naguib El-Masry told DNE Tuesday. Maikel's rejection of the military court was echoed by the recent refusal by activists Alaa Abdel Fattah and Bahaa Saber to be interrogated by the military prosecution on charges of inciting violence against army forces during the Maspero protest on Oct.9. While Saber was released without bail, Abdel Fattah was detained for 15 days pending investigations. The military court had agreed two weeks ago to send Nabil to El-Khanka Mental Hospital to examine whether he is responsible over his actions. "The final hospital report confirmed that my son's mental state is fine and that he is responsible for his actions," Maikel's father, Nabil Sanad, told DNE Tuesday. "The military court appointed earlier a lawyer that we do not know who requested Maikel's referral to a mental hospital. We did not hire this lawyer to defend my son," Sanad said. Head of Media Unit of the General Secretariat of Mental Health Dr. Basma Abdel-Aziz issued a statement earlier slamming the decision to send Nabil to a mental hospital, describing it as "moral assassination" to intellectuals and freedom fighters. "Referring political activists to mental hospitals to evaluate their mental state is unacceptable and brings us back to the dark ages when political opponents were thrown in mental hospitals to isolate them from their societies and undermine their thoughts and ideas," Abdel-Aziz said in the statement. However, Minister of Health Amr Helmy said that the statement does not represent the official stance of the ministry after referring Abdel-Aziz to a disciplinary committee because of the statement. Abdel Aziz was not available for comment.
