Egypt: Jailed blogger Alaa to be tried in civilian court

The case of prominent Egyptian blogger and activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah is to be be tried in a civilian court, it has been reported. Egyptian authorities are said to have transferred the case state security prosecutors to investigative judges, which opens up the possibility of a trial in a civilian criminal court with the right to appeal. Abdel-Fattah was detained 30 October after he refused to answer questions over his alleged role in the 9 October clashes in Cairo.

Egyptian blogger denied release misses birth of child

Detained blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah (@alaa) was denied a request to be released from detention by the High State Security Court on 5 December, preventing him from being present for the birth of his son the next day.

A Cairo-based media collective called Mosireen made a video showing the blogger at his trial, followed by a clip of baby Khalid with his mother, blogger Manal Hassan, after his birth on 6 December.

Abdel Fattah’s son was named Khalid after the iconic Khalid Said, whose brutal beating by Alexandria police in 2010 made him one of the icons of Egypt’s revolution. The birth of Khalid during the detention of his father has become an unfortunate family tradition, as Abdel Fattah’s sister and fellow activist, Mona Seif, was born while her father, a human rights lawyer was serving time in prison for his work.

Abdel Fattah, who has been detained since 30 October, was initially detained for 15 days, and since then his prison sentence has been extended twice, bringing his total time in prison to 45 days. He was initially prosecuted by the military court, but had his case transferred to civil prosecution on 22 November. While there was initial hope in the transfer, many have been dismayed by the continuation of the same pattern. Abdel Fattah has previously refused to be interrogated by military prosecutors, as he has been active in speaking out against the practice of trying civilians by the military. Abdel Fattah is scheduled to appear in court on Sunday, where he will learn whether or not his detention will be extended for another 15 days, pending investigation.

Jailed blogger Alaa urges Egyptians to celebrate his birthday in Tahrir

Following the extension of the imprisonment of Alaa Abdel-Fattah for a further fifteen days, the prominent Egyptian blogger has sent a message to his supporters from his prison cell, asking them to celebrate his 30th birthday in Tahrir Square on 18 November.

Alaa was summoned by a military prosecutor last month after an article he wrote exploring the death of activist Meena Daniel in October appeared in an Egyptian newspaper, and was returned to prison.

In this message to his supporters, Alaa stresses his fears for the wellbeing of his mother, who is on hunger strike for his release, his concerns for his wife, Manal, and explains that he will miss his “special” birthday and Eid celebrations. The blogger, who blamed the military for Daniel’s death, fears that whilst imprisoned he will miss the birth of his first son:

“I’ve spent Eid away from my family for the past three years due to living abroad. It used to pass like an ordinary day, we go to work late in the morning and if it wasn’t for that one phone call , we wouldn’t even know its Eid.

I was keen on this Eid, the first Eid to spend with the family after we moved back, but the military decided that it is not our right to be happy. I spent Eid in a cell and my family spent it waiting in a queue that lasted the entire Eid day, only for a sample of visitors to be able to go inside accompanied by security officers who outnumber them.

Between making sure my mother , who began a hunger strike to call for my release is alright and the tension of being denied the exchange of letters with Manal, the minutes of the visit finished fast and the first day of Eid was over.

The employees, the guards and the officers had to leave to celebrate Eid and this means that the prison is operating at half capacity, as in they closed the cells for four days in a row: no time out of the cell, no visits, no newspapers, no food from outside, do you want criminals to celebrate Eid for god’s sake?

If it wasn’t for your tweets that arrived in the form of Eid postcards, I wasn’t going to feel that there was Eid in the outside world , thank you for troubling yourself and thanks to the people behind this idea.

Eid is over, but my birthday is coming up, for the last four years, I have celebrated my birthday away from my family, but this time was supposed to be special. My 30th birthday, the beginning of my realisation that I have entered adulthood with no going back. It is also a few days before Khalid is born.  On the 18th of November, we will return to Tahrir, I wanted to celebrate with my fellow revolutionaries at Tahrir square and then, with my family at night. But of course, Friday is not a visiting day and they wouldn’t open our doors.

I ask you to celebrate on my behalf at the square, when I receive news of your solidarity with me, they are the only moments that make me happy. From the protests in front of the Appeals Prison ( sadly, I have not felt them since I’m locked in the other side, but I’ve heard about them from other prisoners) to the protests against military trials from Luxor to Alexandria and even in Oakland and San Francisco , two cities I have visited for a short while but have entered my heart after attending their meetings and lectures.

The Eid has passed, my birthday will pass and I will be used to spending them away from my family, but the birth of Khalid, my first son, how can I miss it?

How can I tolerate not being next to Manal all this time? How can I wait for the news to find out whether they are alright or not? How can I tolerate not seeing his face?

How can I not see his mother’s face when she sees his face? How can I look at his face after I’m released even though I promised him to be born free?

We called him Khalid because we are endowed to Khalid Said and instead of imprisoning his murderers, we are imprisoned?”

Special thanks to Reem Abbas for the translation. 

Alaa: Arrest of blogger mobilises opposition to Egypt’s military rulers

Prolific Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah was detained on Sunday after refusing to be interrogated by a military investigator, insisting on his right to be tried before a civil court. Rasha Abdulla reports

Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah (@alaa) was jailed on 30 October for 15 days pending investigation after refusing to be interrogated by a military investigator on charges related to the now infamous Maspiro events, in which over 20 people died and many more were injured after a brutal crackdown on a Christian-majority demonstration.

Alaa was called in for investigation last week. He was active in the aftermath of the event, having spent two days at the morgue alongside other activists in solidarity with victims’ families, while trying to convince them to agree to autopsies and ensure the reports of said autopsies were correctly documented. He detailed the experience in a piece for Al Shorouk newspaper (a translation of which can be found here), in which he reminded everyone that solidarity is the solution to Egypt’s problems. Alaa has been detained before,  in 2006 he spent 45 days in jail, a piece he wrote from behind bars was published today entitled “A Return to Mubarak’s Jails.”

Alaa was in San Francisco when he was asked to report last week. His father, veteran human rights lawyer Ahmed Seif El Islam Abdel Fattah, appeared in court and asked for the case to be postponed. Alaa returned to Cairo on Saturday afternoon and appeared in court on Sunday morning. The military prosecutor filed five charges against him including demonstrating, inciting to demonstrate, assaulting military personnel, destroying public property, and stealing military weapons. Alaa, whose sister Mona Seif (@monasosh) is one of the founders of the No to Military Trials for Civilians campaign refused to recognise the authority of an civic judge. He pointed out that the army is facing law suits accusing it as a defendant in the same case, which constitutes a clear conflict of interest. As a result he was detained, pending further military investigation.

Alaa has been active on the blogging scene in Egypt since 2004, when he and his wife Manal Hassan (@manal) started the award-winner blog and aggregator Manal and Alaa’s Bit Bucket. Both bloggers fought the Mubarak regime online and offline, breaking cases of corruption and police brutality that were later picked up by the traditional media.

Many believe Alaa’s detention is a warning to other bloggers and political activists, a ratcheting up of the series of violations against free expression committed by Egypt’s ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF). The violations include summons sent to journalists Rasha Azab (@rashapress) and her editor, Adel Hammouda, over Azab’s coverage of a meeting between the No to Military Trials group and SCAF in which allegations that SCAF subjected female demonstrators to virginity tests were discussed. Later, when journalist and blogger Hossam El Hamalawy discussed SCAF on a popular Egyptian talk show, he and his show host, Reem Magued, were both called in before the military prosecutor. That visit was later described by the prosecutor as “a chat.” Other bloggers that have been interrogated and/or detained including Asmaa Mahfouz, Loai Nagati, and Maikel Nabil, who has been on a hunger strike since 22 August.

A military court sentenced Maikel Nabil to three years for “insulting the military & spreading false reports aiming to disturb public security.” The charges relate to a May blog entitled “The army and the people are not one hand,” in which he listed the army’s alleged wrongdoings, including the virginity tests claim. Maikel, who has a heart condition, was tried 12 days after being arrested on 28 March.

Other free expression violations have been committed on the satellite television front. In recent months, army police forces have raided the offices of Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr several times, as well as 25TV channel. Al Jazeera Mubasher has since been banned from broadcasting from Egypt, accused of incomplete licensing procedures. Most recently, popular television host Yosri Fouda chose to indefinitely suspend his highly-viewed political talk show because he felt he was under pressure to not report things as he sees them and did not want to force himself through “self-censorship.” He told the BBC that he did not want to “take the narrative of the army” and would rather step back in protest of the military rulers’ attempts to “stifle free expression.”

The No to Military Trials campaign, which has been actively lobbying on behalf of all military detainees, has published a press release condemning Alaa’s arrest in the strongest possible words, and asking for his immediate release, together with the other 12,000 victims of military trials in Egypt, who should at least be retried before a civil court. The group called upon Egyptians to refuse to cooperate with military interrogation and to support the cause of No to Military Trials for Civilians. You can read the press release in its entirety here. A press conference by the group is scheduled for tomorrow, 3 November, at 2pm Cairo time.

Rasha Abdulla is an associate professor at the Journalism and Mass Communication Department of the American University in Cairo. An advocate for freedom of expression, Abdulla has published several books and writings on Internet use and digital activism in Egypt and throughout the Arab World. You can follow her on Twitter:@RashaAbdulla