EGYPT TO BRING STUDENTS TO MILITARY COURTS IF FOUND IN RIOTS

Egyptian security forces deployed in front of the Al-Azhar Islamic University in Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday, October 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Ahmed Abd El Latef, El Shorouk)

Cairo, 4 Muharam 1436/28 October 2014 (MINA) – Schoolchildren and university students accused of sabotaging educational facilities will be tried by military courts under a new law issued on Monday.

The law also stipulates that soldiers will assist the police in guarding vital “public facilities and institutions,” Ahram online quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Those who attack or sabotage such institutions will be referred to the military prosecution and tried by military courts, such acts taken recently as hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters also brought to the military court after they accused of fueled riots.

Universities and schools are considered public facilities under the new law, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab said on Monday during a phone interview with private broadcast channel CBC Two.

The new law was issued by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, who holds legislative powers in the absence of a parliament, which authorities say will be elected by the end of this year.

Protests as well as clashes have been frequent at public universities as they protest the government for ousting first freely elected president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. Hundreds of students have been arrested and detained on accusation of destroying public property and violating the controversial protest law.

Since the start of the new semester on 11 October, police have stormed at least five universities and arrested over 180 students, despite Mahlab saying police would not enter campuses.

One student died at Alexandria University after being wounded by birdshot during clashes with police. While a bomb exploded at Cairo University last week injuring 11.(T/R04/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)