CAIRO: Families of citizens subjected to military trials gathered at a press conference Wednesday with activists and supporters to support a decision by the Journalists' Syndicate to boycott the military prosecution. Earlier this week the syndicate, where the conference was held, urged its members not to respond to official summons by the military prosecution. The call came after activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, called in for questioning for alleged involvement in the Maspero violence on Oct.9, refused to be questioned. He argued that as a civilian, he can only be questioned by a civilian judge and that the military should not probe a crime to which it is party. Abdel-Fattah's family, including sister Mona Seif, coordinator of the No to Military Trials for Civilians campaign, his father, lawyer Ahmed Seif El-Islam, and mother Cairo University professor Laila Soueif, were present at the press conference. Soueif has been on hunger strike for 12 days to protest the continuation of her son's detention. Soueif said she's in good health and stressed that the case isn't about her son but about all civilians detained by the military. “The poor are the most people that get smashed under the military trials machine … There are thousands of such cases that nobody ever hears of,” she said, also adding that a quick transition to a civil authority must be take place. She added: “The current law must be reversed … at Maspero, someone took a decision to disperse with force, and that person himself should face a military trial.” Ahmed Darrag, member of the National Association for Change who refused to go to the military prosecution when summoned, described military trials as “unjust and illegal,” maintaining that he was “proud to be one of the suspects.” “Being summoned in this case proves conclusively that all the suspects are innocent, except those who would be found guilty by a civil judge,” he said, explaining that he was summoned first as a suspect. A military official later said he was summoned as a witness. Darrag also expressed his astonishment for being called in as a suspect for a case in Cairo when he was in Alexandria on the day of the Maspero events. He added that all those who conducted military trials should themselves be tried, “as the state of emergency expired on Sept. 30,” referring to the legal argument based on article 59 of the current constitutional declaration that stipulates that the state of emergency will last six months starting March 30, and will require a referendum to extend it. The press conference surveyed the formation of the No to Military Trials campaign last February, with videos and testimonials. A video chronicling the foundation of the campaign also focused on the Sept. 9 protest outside the Israeli embassy and the crackdown on the Maspero protest on Oct. 9. The film ended with a collage of the Maspero brutalities, particularly when armoured personnel carriers (APCs) ran over protestors, with a voice-over of statements made by the generals of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) at a press conference held a few days after Oct. 9. While the film was played participants condemned SCAF and military rule in general. Mother of Ahmed Hassan, a worker at the Cairo governorate who was accused of thuggery following the clashes outside the Israeli embassy in September, recounted her son's case. “He's rotting there in [Tora] prison without even getting treatment for his wounds,” she said. All the cases presented at the conference showed that the arrests and charges were arbitrary, with people detained either at locations far from the scene of the events or a day later. One such case was that of Amin Mounir, a Maspero suspect whose wife said “was working late, and was arrested after the events occurred as he was going home.” “He was tortured inside the Maspero building and later detained … he is still in custody to this very day,” she said. The press conference was followed by a demonstration denouncing military trials. According to Human Rights Watch, over 12,000 civilians have faced military tribunals in Egypt since the January uprising, a number far exceeding those prosecuted in military courts during Mubarak's 30-year rule. The number was confirmed by military sources.
