CAIRO: Members of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) said during a televised interview Monday evening that former president Hosni Mubarak had the right to use different means of communication even while he is under house arrest. In an interview with ON TV's talk show host Yosri Fouda, council member and Assistant Defense Minister Mohamed El-Assar said that Mubarak had “the right to defend himself anytime” in reference to a recent voice message broadcast by pan-Arab Al-Arabiya news channel. On Sunday, Saudi-funded Al-Arabiya aired an audio message by Mubarak in which he addressed the Egyptian people, saying neither he nor his wife owned any assets abroad. He further denied in the 5:50-minute statement all other corruption charges he was accused of since he stepped down on Feb. 11 and handed over authority to the army. Mubarak expressed his readiness to give power of attorney to investigators or prosecutors to investigate these allegations in all countries. About 20 minutes later, the prosecutor general summoned Mubarak and his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, for interrogation for the first time over the embezzlement of public funds. Mubarak has also been accused of ordering the interior ministry to use live ammunition against civilians during the protests that erupted on Jan. 25. The voice recording was met by fierce criticism of opposition forces and legal experts who argued that Mubarak was under house arrest in Sharm El-Sheikh and had no right to communicate to the outside world. However, Mamdouh Shahine, assistant defense minister for legal affairs, said in a phone-in interview during the show that Mubarak's move was “legal” since being under house arrest does not entail prohibiting from contact with others. Shahine added that banning Mubarak from using means of communication required a court ruling. During the interview which lasted over three hours, Ismail Etman, director of the SCAF's Morale Affairs Department, denied that any pressure was put on the army council to grant Mubarak special treatment. The armed forces took over security in the country on Jan. 28 following nationwide protests while a curfew was imposed in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez, the governorates that witnessed most of the action. On his part, El-Assar refuted unconfirmed reports that Saudi Arabia exerted pressure on Egypt for Mubarak to escape trial. “Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal met Defense Minister and head of the SCAF Mohamed Hussein Tantawy twice since the [army] took over. I attended the two meetings where he never mentioned this issue directly or indirectly,” El-Assar said. The army was also criticized for prosecuting former officials accused of corruption before civilian courts while bloggers, protesters and activists faced speedy trials before military courts. “We have to say that…those involved in corruption cases have nothing to do with the armed forces, especially that all their cases are civilian,” Etman said. “So we leave them to the prosecutor general and the procedures of investigation,” he said, adding it requires a long time to investigate such charges. According to El-Assar, each of the accused was investigated by the graft authority across all entities in 29 governorates plus other information received by security authorities. “Speeding up investigation or trial processes leads to loopholes that lawyers can make use of to have the defendant acquitted,” he added. Though 41 protesters were arrested in Tahrir Square in the early hours of Saturday and referred to the military prosecution a few hours later, Ibrahim Kamel, businessman and former National Democratic Party (NDP) leader, accused of being behind the violence that erupted on the same night, was referred to a civilian prosecutor. Kamel was also accused of being involved in the attacks against protesters in Tahrir by thugs riding horses and camels on Feb. 2, in what came to be known as the Battle of the Camel. “We detained [protesters] on April 8 and referred them to military prosecution as the army was part of the case,” El-Assar said. “But corruption cases and the murder of protesters can be handled by civilian courts. Taking exceptional measures in such cases will open the doors of hell,” he added. Earlier on Friday afternoon, eight men claiming to be army officers dressed in military uniform joined tens of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square, calling for the resignation of Tantawy and the prosecution of Mubarak as well as halting military trials against civilians. Etman said that it would have caused turmoil if the military police attempted to seize them during the protest. That's why they waited till after midnight. Protesters, according to Etman, held a sit-in after midnight in Tahrir accompanied by the eight men. “[After the curfew began at 2 am], a number of protesters remained in the square. [But] we decided not to deal with or attack a civilian,” he said. “We followed a certain method to disperse protesters and [pave the way] for our forces to enter the area [to arrest the eight men],” Etman added, claiming that no clashes erupted between the soldiers and any civilian protesters at that point. Etman insisted that the armed forces did not shoot protesters, despite eye witnesse claims and human rights reports stating otherwise. “They only fired blanks in the air to help disperse the people,” he said. The health ministry announced that one person died while 71 others were injured during the incident, though other unofficial sources said that more than one was killed. “Only one 17-year-old boy died at about 1:30 am and was carried to a military hospital,” Etman said. “He got a bullet in his jawbone that passed through his neck and back, which proves he received it from a top position. We had no snipers in the area. Neither did we use live rounds,” he added. Eye witnesses said the situation escalated when the protesters attempted to protect the eight men. Nine rights groups said in a joint report Sunday that a number of protesters kept empty cartridges that they collected after the shooting ended. Other activists took pictures of blood spots on the ground on Talaat Harb Street and near Hoda Shaarawy Street downtown. The military police had earlier been accused of torturing protesters arrested in Tahrir on March 9 as well as forcing 17 female protesters to undergo a virginity test. The alleged incidents were documented and condemned by local and international human rights groups. “The armed forces neither use force nor violate human rights,” Etman said. “The treatment of [detainees] is humane and if mistakes were committed, we conduct immediate investigations into them,” he added. Etman also denied that the military police used force to disperse the sit-in of mass communication students at Cairo University on March 23 where many students were hospitalized after being allegedly attacked by cattle prods. “Human rights are maintained…we are the most people who care about human rights,” Etman said. The students were demanding the ouster of the faculty of mass communication dean whom they accused of being part of the old regime since he was a member of the policies committee of the NDP.
