CAIRO: A group of Egyptian political activists today released a video tape showing some Egyptian presidential candidates condemning military trials for civilians. Egyptian military courts reportedly have charged and convicted about 12,000 civilians since the beginning of the January 25 Revolution. “I oppose military courts for civilians,” said Amr Moussa, an Egyptian presidential candidate and former secretary-general of the Arab League. Founder of the al-Ghad Party and likely presidential candidate Ayman Nour also condemned military trials for civilians, saying, “Extrajudicial trials clearly violate constitutional rights.” “Military judges lack both independence and immunity, both of which are vital characteristics of civil judges,” said another likely presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh. “Trying civilians before military courts violates the right of a fair trial,” said Hisham el-Bastawisi, the vice president of the Court of Cassation, in his statement of support for the cancellation of such courts. “Judges must be able to independently rule on civilian matters,” said Hazem Abou Ismail. “Trying civilians before a military judge is entirely unacceptable.” “I condemn military trials because it is a human rights violation,” said Head of the Nasserist al-Karama Party Hamdeen Sabbahi, another likely Egyptian presidential candidate. “The Egyptian people must not be tried before military tribunals because they are illegal,” said popular television broadcaster and potential presidential candidate Bothaina Kamel. “The road to democracy is destroyed by military courts, a failure to protect peaceful protestors, the refusal of international election monitors and the prohibition of expatriate Egyptian ballots,” wrote Mohamed el-Baradei, a presidential candidate and former secretary-general of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in a statement sent to videographers. The campaign headquarters of Egyptian presidential hopeful Mohamed Salim el-Awa did not respond to a request to participate in the session.
