Hossam el-Hamalawy
I received the following statement from Amnesty International:
The Egyptian government yesterday refused to allow human rights groups to observe the military trial of 33 leading members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, undercutting the government’s claims that civilians will have a fair trial before military courts, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today.
The trial of the MB leaders in Mubarak’s kangaroo military courts was adjourned today to 15 July. Hafez has detailed coverage with photos and videos on his blog.
From Reuters:
The wife of jailed Egyptian opposition politician Ayman Nour, the main challenger to Hosni Mubarak in a 2005 presidential election, said he was assaulted by security men on Saturday in a courthouse stairwell.
“He was beaten up in the court,” Gameela Ismail told Reuters. “They dragged him on the stairs … They dragged him and pushed and pulled him.” An Interior Ministry spokesman said he had no knowledge of any incident involving Nour, a diabetic who has heart problems but has so far failed to win an early release on health grounds.
Nour came a distant second to Mubarak in Egypt’s first multi-candidate presidential election in 2005. He is serving a 5-year jail term after being convicted of forging signatures to found his opposition Ghad party. He says the criminal charges were fabricated to keep him out of political life. He campaigned against Mubarak on a liberal secular platform and won 8 percent of the vote.
Nour had been in court in relation to a wrongful termination lawsuit he filed several years ago against a newspaper where he had worked as an editor until 2001, Ismail said.
She said Nour’s lawyers had reported that he was dragged and beaten when he refused to walk up several flights of stairs. He had asked to take the elevator, complaining of joint problems, she added.
Ismail said he told his lawyers that he had been assaulted by three officers, and that Nour’s lawyers had seen bruises on his legs and wrists.