All Egyptian Constitutions share ambiguous articles about the court-martialing of civilians, leaving the door open for laws to decide whether or not to use military justice. However, the 2012 Constitution – being currently amended – is the first to clearly recognize the concept.
Gray area
Lawyer Abdussattar Balshi says that unlike the articles of all the later constitutions, Article 20 of the 1954 draft constitution stated: “No civilian may be court-martialed or subjected to trial by special or exceptional courts.”
All Egyptian Constitutions share ambiguous articles about the court-martialing of civilians, leaving the door open for laws to decide whether or not to use military justice. However, the 2012 Constitution – being currently amended – is the first to clearly recognize the concept.
Gray area
Lawyer Abdussattar Balshi says that unlike the articles of all the later constitutions, Article 20 of the 1954 draft constitution stated: “No civilian may be court-martialed or subjected to trial by special or exceptional courts.”
Balshi suggests that Law No. 25 of 1966 regulates courts-martial’s activities. “This law was perhaps the reason behind the existence of Article 183 of the 1971 Constitution, which reads: ‘Military justice and its jurisdiction shall be regulated by law under the Constitution’s articles,’” says Balshi.
The first Egyptian Constitution to refer to court-martials, says Balshi, is the 1971 Constitution, which was not clear-cut about the possibility of court-martialing civilians. It rather allowed such trials if members or facilities of the armed forces were attacked. It also featured an article that authorized the president to refer civilians to courts-martials if he deemed it necessary.
Court-martials under the first civil, elected president
Despite the fact that the Islamic forces deleted this article, under which they had suffered for 30 years, they added another article that allowed the court-martialling of civilians in the 2012 Constitution, which constitutionalized this practice for the first time in the history of Egypt. Based on this same article, scores of citizens, some of them who are even pro-Morsi supporters, are currently being court-martialed.
The Founder of the ‘No to Military Trials for Civilians’ Group, Mona Seif, says Article 63 of the 2012 draft constitution – issued on November 11 – clearly banned the court-martialing of civilians. “However, when the members of the Constituent Assembly acquiesced to the military’s dictates, this article was replaced by Article 198, which bans subjecting civilians to trial by court-martials unless for armed forces-harming crimes decided by law,” says Seif.
“Thus, the 2012 Constitution provided military justice with an unprecedented, legitimate cover to continue these trials and violate civilians’ rights after a revolution that called for justice,” says Seif, whose group aims to abolish these trials. “Any civilian who upsets a member of the armed forces for whatever reason will thus be subject to military trials on the pretext that they harm the armed forces.”
Background
Military trials in Egypt started in 1952, following a strike by workers of the textile factory in the city of Kafr el-Dawwar. “The army arrested hundreds of workers on charges of vandalism and rioting,” says Amr Imam, a human rights lawyer at the Hisham Mubarak Law Center. “The first military verdict executed workers Mohammad Mustafa Khamis, 19, and Mohammad Abdurrahman Baqari, 17, by firing squad.”
In the period between the July 1952 Revolution and the January 2011 Revolution, the authorities used court-martials on many occasions to face the opposition. The fiercest ones were in the aftermath of the assassination of former President Anwar Al-Sadat. Then, Mubarak extensively used court-martials to oppress the Islamists, ensuring quick and cruel verdicts against thousands of them.
A surge after revolution
After the revolution, says Mona Seif, courts-martial were on the rise and they reached all. “It all started on February 26, 2011 when the army broke up a sit-in staged in front of the prime ministry headquarters, arresting some sitters-in, including Amr Beheiri who was court-martialed over the next four days and sentenced to five years in prison,” she says.
“After the army dispersed a sit-in on March 9, 2011, 171 citizens, including 17 women and 25 minors, were court-martialed. This incident was not unique; many sit-ins were dispersed, such as the April 9 sit-in, Maspero Massacre, the protests marking the Catastrophe anniversary mid May, the Balloon Theatre’s events and the Israeli Embassy’s protests leading to the death of two Egyptian soldiers along the borders. In all these instances, the armed forces broke up protests by force, haphazardly arrested protesters and passers by from neighboring streets and subjected them to trials by court-martial, not to mention maltreatment and documented torturing cases,” stresses Seif.
Children behind military bars
Court-martials have reached not only adults, but also children and minors. All the protests during the last two years, says Seif, witnessed arresting minors, including 25 minors in the April 9 sit-in and 17 minors in the Israeli Embassy’s protests. All these minors were court-martialed, but released some days later and sentenced to a year of suspended imprisonment.
“Through its observations, my group got to know the story of a child called Mohammad Ihab who was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was arrested after having an argument in the street. He was accused of breaking the curfew, burglary, and attacking a member of the armed forces. Though a minor – 17-years old at the time – Ihab was court-martialed in April 2011 and served the first months of his sentence at the Tarah maximum security prison,” says Seif.
Journalists and farmers
Court-martials also reached other sectors. “Farmers of the Nile Qarssaya Island in Giza were court-martialed when the armed forced broke into the Island on November 18, 2012 on the pretext that it belonged to the army,” said Sarah Sharif, a member of Seif’s group. “They arrested then court-martialed 25 civilians. Mohammad Abdulmawjoud, one of the island’s young men, was killed. Three months later, 14 suspects were acquitted, one was sentenced to five years in prison and 11 were sentenced to three months of hard labor.”
Sharif underscores that journalists were court-martialed, including Mohammad Sabri, a journalist interested in Sinai issues. He was arrested on January 4, 2013 in Rafah where he was reporting on the death of soldiers. He was later released but he is still under trial, which has been adjourned many times.
A few days ago, Ahmad Abu Draa, a journalist from Sinai, was subjected to trial by court-martial on charges of publishing false news about the armed forces, which could weaken trust in the state and undermine its prestige. He, Sharif says, published news about casualties among civilians during the army’s operations in Sinai.
“Legitimate trials”
The military institution stresses that court-martials are legitimate according to the military law and important to maintain safety and security. “The court-martials do not only target civilians, they meet the conditions of fair trials, for suspects can examine the details of their cases and the charges they are facing and they can hire a lawyer to defend them,” says Staff Colonel Ahmad Mohammad Ali, spokesman for the armed forces. “The military justice tries civilians in cases where the military institution is involved, such as when attacking members of the military, army units or military zones.”
Concerning the arrest of Ahmad Abu Draa, Ali underlines that he is not a journalist, but a reporter for the Al-Masri Al-Youm newspaper, who has relations with terrorist groups. Some of his family members, says Ali, are affiliated to takfiri Jihadist groups and he used his work to inform them about the armed forces’ locations and movements in Sinai. “He was spotted more than once in locations of terrorist operations before they took place. Abu Draa is still a suspect and we will respect whatever verdict is issued,” claims Ali.
When asked about those who were subject to trial by court-martial under the Military Council prior to Morsi’s reign, Ali said: “Morsi formulated a committee to examine the arrested people’s files. It recommended releasing some and keeping others. Thus, why to blame the armed forces rather than the committee for arresting civilians?”
