CAIRO: Calls for the release of Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah are increasing day by day amid the Supreme Council of Armed Forces' stubbornness after the March 9 Movement, which advocates academic freedom, called for his release. The movement described Abdel Fattah as one of the January 25 Revolution symbols. It also called in a statement for a stop to military trials against civilians, regardless the reasons of imprisonment. The statement is signed by 120 Egyptian Universities' academic staff members. On Wednesday evening, a protest was staged outside the Egyptian press syndicate against the military trials. The demonstration came after a “No military trials against civilians” conference in coordination with the Freedoms Committee of the press syndicate. The conference was attended by relatives of the detainees who were arrested in the September 9 Maspiro clashes between Coptic Christians and military forces. Abdel Fattah's family was also in attendance. “We should thank the military council which has unified us,” said Abdel Fattah's father Ahmed Seif al-Islam satirically. Seif al-Islam is a lawyer, human rights activist and director of the Egyptian Hisham Mubarak Law Center. The Egyptian Museum was like a slaughterhouse during January 25 Revolution and no one has investigated this matter yet, he added in the protest. He condemned anyone trying to draw a political role for the Egyptian army. The next million man demonstration calls for holding presidential elections immediately after Shura Council elections and sending the army back to its barracks, as well as rejecting Deputy PM Ali el-Selmy's constitutional principles document, according to Seif al-Islam. The Freedoms Committee of the press syndicate rapporteur Mohammad Abdel Qudous stressed that military trials against civilians are worse than what was happening during ousted President Hosni Mubarak's era. Imprisoning the accused civilians until December 24 violates human rights, he added. Laila Soueif, Abdel Fattah's mother who is on hunger strike over her son's military detention, said the poor people subject to injustice because of military trials have demands that are not heard. She also called for a civil independent investigation into the Maspiro Clashes. National Democratic Institute for Change General Organizer Ahmed Darag said the first military summoning he received was as an accused person, and when he refused to appear before the military prosecution, the second summoning was as a witness. Darag satirically wondered “Who shall I be witness against?” because the Maspiro case is fabricated and proves that there are thousands of fabricated cases by the military prosecution.
