Cairo April 11^th , 2011

The human rights organizations defending the blogger Michael Nabil before the military court over criticism of the junta condemned the harsh and almost secret sentence issued after misleading the lawyers yesterday April 10^th and informing them that the case was adjourned to April 12^th . The sentence was issued ,after the lawyers have left , to sentence Michael Nabil for 3 years in prison.

Lawyers of Michael Nabil from Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, United Group, and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights have gone to the military court to hear the court’s decision in the case, however, that the Chief of the military courts told them that the tribunal was adjourned to Tuesday April 12^th . Several hours after the lawyers have left , news leaked that the verdict against blogger was issued sentencing him to three years. News were confirmed this morning, which raised suspicion on court’s position and the deliberate misleading of the defense.

Secrecy and deception are now added to the list of setbacks of military trials that lack the slightest elements of fairness.

Michael Nabil 26 years old, wrote a post on his blog slamming the army performance during and after the revolution of January 25^th , Egypt, which led to his arrest on March 28^th.

After a short investigation before the military prosecutor , he was referred to military court which set a hearing on Sunday ,April 10^th for sentencing.

Lawyers were present at the court yesterday , the chief of the military tribunals told them that the court has decided to adjourn the verdict hearing to Tuesday, April 12^th . The lawyers Michael ‘s family were surprised that the verdict has already been issued yesterday in the absence of lawyers, after they left. This behavior raises suspicions and doubts on the fairness of the trial, not only for being a military trial for a civilian over his opinions , but in the context of the proceedings of similar trials against other civilians, considering the fact that the army refused to admit committing torture against Egyptian youth or apologize for this behavior.

The human rights organizations signatories to this statement said, “Freedom of Michael Nabil was shackled andstolen, not only, by the military court, but by the media hypocritical of the junta that reject with cowardness or collusion to announce or publish any news about the numerous offences . Talking about violations exercised by the junta is almost a wrong tune in such a stuffy atmosphere of hypocrisy , lying and appeasing which multiplies the mistake and turns it into a crime involving torturers ,violaters and concealers. We will not keep silent about torture or unfair trials, even if we wrote about these crimes on the walls in the streets”.

Human rights organizations signatories to this statement warned that these unfair military trials against Egyptian will turn into a systematic practice blessed and concealed by Egyptian media, for allegedly protect the revolution. An atmosphere of fear and obscurity is the last thing needed for a revolution to thrive , instead of openness, transparency and justice, for which Egyptians have struggled for so long and will not give in .

Related Information

Egyptian Human Rights Organizations: When Extremists Cut Off An Egyptian Citizen’s Ear And Get Pardoned While A Blogger Is Court Martialed Over Opinions On His Blog, Then Egyptian Justice And Freedom of Expression Are At Stake.

http://www.anhri.net/en/?p=2378

Signatory Human rights organizations
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights
United Group
Hisham Mubarak Law Center
Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression
Association for Human Rights Legal Aid
Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement