Cairo, April 13: Human Rights Watch (HRW) has strongly condemned an Egyptian military court’s sentencing of a blogger as “a serious setback to freedom of expression.”
Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil has been sentenced to three years in jail for what the court calls insulting the military.
He allegedly provided evidence of the military deceiving Egyptians during the popular uprising.
Now, the HRW says the sentence — in addition to being severe — has been imposed after an unfair trial.
“The sentence is not only severe, but it was imposed by a military tribunal after an unfair trial,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
HRW also says the Egyptian military has arrested at least 200 protesters and tried scores of them before military courts.
This comes after Egypt’s military council assumed power on February 11, after weeks of rallies forced former president Hosni Mubarak to resign.
The council now faces protests demanding the resignation of its chief and the formation of a civilian government.
Egyptians say that they are skeptical about a rapid transition towards democracy and civilian rule and maintain that demonstrations will continue until all their demands are met.
——–Agencies