CAIRO: The United States government has called on the Egyptian military rulers to end military trials of civilians, singling out embattled blogger Maikel Nabil, who was sentenced again this week to two years in jail over statements he made on his personal blog. “We are very concerned about reports that the military court has again sentenced (Maikel Nabil) to prison for criticizing the Egyptian Armed Forces,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters. “Civilians ought to be tried in civilian courts,” she said. “We continue to urge the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to reconsider this verdict and we call on the government to protect the universal rights of all Egyptian citizens, including the right to free expression,” she said. After weeks of postponements and jockeying by the court, Nabil's hunger strike and refusal to be tried in a military court were to no avail, as he will remain behind bars, much to the anger of his family and supporters, who had hoped the growing international pressure would sway the hand of the country's ruling military council. “Maikel Nabil Sanad should be released immediately and unconditionally,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director. “He is a prisoner of conscience who should never have been prosecuted in the first place,” Sahraoui said. On April 10, in a case widely seen as the first of its kind in the post-Hosni Mubarak Egypt, Nabil was sentenced to three years in jail by a military court. The young blogger, who holds controversial views concerning Israel, including calling for normalization – which has left him outside the massive “No Military Trials” campaign started by a group of local activists – has been on a hunger strike since August 23. His supporters received a boost last Wednesday when Samira Ibrahim, the female activist who has filed a lawsuit against the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces over their “virginity tests,” came to show her solidarity. She told Bikyamasr.com that “I'm here in solidarity with Maikel [because] he's facing a military court which certainly won't rule in his favor.” She added that “there's little interest because of the media's complicity with SCAF.” Earlier this fall, authorities sent Maikel to a psychiatric hospital after he refused to eat. Doctors and observers said it was a move by the government to distance themselves from the potential death that looms for the young blogger, considered by many to be the first prisoner of conscience since the ousting of former President Hosni Mubarak on February 11. Basma Abdel Aziz, the director of the media department for Egypt's General Secretariat for Mental Health condemned the move regarding Nabil's case, stating, “the previous regime used to accuse mentally healthy individuals of being mentally disturbed and accuse them of crimes of conscience despite professional reports stating their sanity. “The incarceration of an individual whose charge is having a different view of the situation in the country is morally and professionally unacceptable. Sanad is kept in one ward with others accused of criminal charges, a matter that is involves terrorizing and threat,” the Abdel Aziz continued. Mark Nabil, the embattled blogger's brother, told Bikyamasr.com at the court last week that his brother is facing liver and kidney problems “but he's determined not to apologize. “If he is sentenced to prison he intends to [enter a] complete hunger and thirst strike.” Now, the young blogger faces the toughest test, with still one and a half-years remaining on his sentence. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/9RVZO No related posts. Tags: Blogger, featured, Free Maikel, Maikel Nabil, Military Trials, SCAF Section: Egypt, Latest News, Media
