INTERIM PRESIDENT DENIES CIVILIANS CONVICTED BY MILITARY COURTS IN EGYPT
Cairo, 2 Dhulqa’dah 1434/7 September 2013 (MINA) – Interim president Adly Mansour has denied that any Egyptian civilians have been tried by military courts since the coup in July. Mansour, who was appointed by coup leader General Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi, insisted that as a judge himself he will only accept civilians going before civilian judges.
Speaking on state television, Mansour said that the indications are that there is a general improvement in the performance of Egypt’s security services. “Although they are largely improving,” he told viewers, “they are still not at the desired degree of performance.” He claimed that the police have stopped interfering in political affairs. “That was an age which will never return,” he insisted.
In Suez on September 3, meanwhile, a Military Court appeared to contradict the president’s claim when it sentenced one civilian to life imprisonment while three others were sentenced to 15 years each; another 48 received sentences ranging between five and ten years.
Similarly, on July 24, a military court convicted eight pro-Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood members for two years each. They were convicted of assaulting the 3rd Field Army and attempting to storm a governmental facility by lifting barbed wire in front of the headquarters of Suez Governorate.
Remarks made by the interim president during his broadcast about stability in the country coincided with the announcement of huge economic losses and the ongoing manhunt for opposition activists.
Meanwhile, Egyptian prosecutors slapped Saturday ousted president Mohamed Morsi with a fresh charge of “insulting the judicial authority.”
Morsi’s detention was extended by four more days pending investigations into the new charge.
Morsi is still held incommunicado since his ouster by the armed forces following protests 3 July.
Throughout his one-year rule, Morsi’s administration was at odds with the judiciary. The peak of the confrontation came in November 2012, when Morsi released an abrupt decree sacking the prosecutor general and immunising the Islamist-led Shura Council and Constituent Assembly from judicial dissolution.
On 26 July, Morsi received his first 15-day detention order pending investigaions into espionage and jailbreak charges.
He is accused of collaborating with Hamas to orchestrate his escape from Wadi El-Natroun Prison in early 2011, as well as destroying police records during the 2011 uprising. In addition, he faces charges of espionage, and of attacking police stations with the intent to kill and abduct police officers and prisoners during the 2011 uprising.
Morsi, along with dozens of other members of the Muslim Brotherhood, escaped from prison during the 2011 revolution that toppled predecessor Hosni Mubarak. The Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hizbullah groups have been accused of aiding in the plot to attack prisons, resulting in the release of inmates.
Most of the Brotherhood’s top leaders are currently detained on charges of inciting violence during recent or past clashes. (T/P014/P04)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
