Tag: military

Egypt border guard shot dead along Israel border

Posted on By 3arabawy

From Reuters…

Egypt border guard shot dead along Israel border
14 Oct 2006
ISMAILIA, Egypt, Oct 14 (Reuters) – An Egyptian border guard was shot dead on Saturday in the Sinai peninsula while on patrol along the Israeli border and another critically wounded, security sources said.
Several Egyptian security sources at the border said preliminary investigations showed the two guards may have had a dispute with a third border guard, who then shot them.
But other Egyptian security sources said it was too early to draw any conclusions and an investigation would focus on all possibilities, including that the fire may have come from Israel. Those sources said the investigation into the shooting near el-Kuntilla, 55 km (35 miles) northwest of the border town of Taba, would also look into the possibility that the border guards were shot in a shootout with smugglers, or in a dispute with another guard. The Sinai peninsula has been the scene of a string of three deadly bomb attacks targeting popular Red Sea beach resorts over the past two years that have killed scores of people.
Egypt has laid the blame for the Sinai bombings on local militants including Bedouin with militant Islamist views.
Smuggling is also common along the Egypt-Israel border.

“Egypt’s rights defenders are NOT afraid of the army”

Posted on By 3arabawy

I received an email from a rights activist friend, asking whether I read NYT’s story on Talaat el-Sadat’s prosecution by the military. My friend was so upset by misreporting that:

Mr. Sadat’s case has not prompted the kind of outcry from human rights activists and democracy supporters in Egypt that other cases have, in part because it involves one of the remaining red lines — the military. Another reason is that he spins tall conspiracy theories, suggesting, for example, that Israel and the United States may have had a hand in the assassination.

My friend was fuming, as the NYT report totally ignored that eight rights group issued a statement denouncing the trial. “We drafted this statement precisely because I didn’t want anyone, let alone the NYT, to say Egypt’s rights defenders are afraid of the army,” my friend wrote me in an email exchange.

Talaat Sadat’s trial postponed

Posted on By 3arabawy

A military tribunal postponed Talaat el-Sadat’s trial to 15 October. The late president’s nephew and member of parliament had his legal immunity lifted, and is being prosecuted on charges of “defaming” Egypt’s almighty army, after he implied there was a conspiracy involving the military and foreign intelligence services to kill his uncle.

Seven Egyptian rights watchdogs denounced the trial yesterday in a statement:

Press Release
10 October 2006
Talaat Sadat’s Statements Are Protected Speech
MP’s Military Trial Violates Constitution and International Law

Seven Egyptian human rights organizations today voiced concern over the decision to strip independent MP Talaat Sadat of his parliamentary immunity and refer him to a military court for statements he made on a television news talk show last week.

The seven rights groups said Sadat’s speculations about those responsible for assassinating his late uncle, former President Anwar Sadat, fall within the scope of the legal protection of freedom of expression guaranteed by the Egyptian Constitution as well as legally binding international treaties ratified by Egypt, namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

The organizations also condemned the decision to try Sadat before a military court and reiterated their position that civilians must have the right to a fair trial before civilian courts.
If convicted, Sadat could be sentenced to prison for up to three years. He is charged under two vaguely worded articles of the Penal Code. Article 184 criminalizes insulting “the Parliament,…,the army, courts, authorities or public institutions.” Article 102 bis of the same law punishes “the deliberate circulation of false news, information, data or rumors for the purpose of threatening public security, spreading fear amongst people or causing damage to public interests.”

The human rights groups expressed solidarity with the indicted parliamentarian and called on all supporters of abolishing imprisonment for media charges to follow suite and declare their unconditional support for freedom of expression, regardless of the content of the expressed views. Freedom of expression is a basic requirement for a democratic society and a civil state, the groups added.

Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Nonviolence Studies
Arab Network for Human Rights Information
Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights
Egyptian Observatory for Justice and Law
Hisham Mubarak Law Center
Nadim Center for Victims of Violence and Torture