Military court
Egypt to allow military court appeals
Egypt's interim president Adly Mansour on Sunday ordered the creation of a higher court that would be able to hear appeals of military court verdicts. Under the new Egyptian constitution, civilians may be tried in military courts for cases involving direct attacks on military personnel or military installations. Thousands of civilian cases have been referred to military courts since early 2011, when the Egyptian Revolution began. The practice has faced opposition from human rights advocates, and the military tribunals have particularly faced criticism for recently passing verdicts against Egyptian journalists.
Egypt has dealt with political unrest since the Egyptian Revolution, and anti-government protesters and supporters of the Islamic Muslim Brotherhood continue to fight the military backed government for political control in the country. An Egyptian court on Sunday acquitted an Al Jazeera television cameraman and 61 others accused of participating in demonstrations in Cairo last July, and on Saturday, the trial of Egypt's deposed president Mohamed Morsi for inciting the murder of several protesters.
Last week, Egyptian prosecutors charged 20 Al Jazeera journalists with joining or conspiring with a terrorist group and broadcasting false images. Also last week, Egypt announced it would elect a new president before voting on a parliament. In the last six weeks, the Egyptian government made a major step in governmental reform through the drafting of a new constitution, which was ratified by 98 percent of voters last month. Egyptians voted on the new military-backed constitution on January 16, with news reports citing a 42 percent voter turnout rate coupled with serious irregularities in the voting records.
(Published by Jurist – February 3, 2014)