| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa North |
| Egypt Begins Trial of 3 Prominent Secular Activists |
| 2013-12-09 |
| [An Nahar] Three prominent Egyptian secular activists went on trial on Sunday charged with participating in a violent protest, following a restrictive new law that has sparked international criticism. The trial of Ahmed Maher, Ahmed Douma and Mohammed Adel is the first of secular activists since Islamist president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Timeprinciple, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... was deposed by the army in July. Adel is being tried in absentia. Rights groups see the trial as a widening of a crackdown on protests by the authorities, who until now have been targeting Islamist supporters of Morsi. The three activists are accused of several charges including assaulting coppers and joining a protest without seeking a police permit as required by the new law. Both Maher, the founder of the April 6 youth movement that led the 2011 revolt against Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... , and Douma denied the accusations. "We will pursue our struggle inside and outside (the prison), the authority which is using the judiciary to put us in jail will fall," Douma told Agence La Belle France Presse. An AFP news hound said that representatives of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... were present at the proceedings in a Cairo court. The court took a one hour recess soon after it started the hearing. Maher and Douma were jugged Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! after Maher's supporters allegedly scuffled with coppers outside a Cairo court on November 30, as Maher handed himself in for questioning on suspicion he had organized an illegal protest. All three defendants were leading dissidents under Mubarak, and supported the military's overthrow of Morsi. The passage of a law on November 24 that bans all but police-authorized protests has angered secular activists who had viewed the military-installed government as a lesser evil than Morsi's. The United States and human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... groups have expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... about the new law, which was introduced after Egypt lifted a three-month state of emergency to stamp out unrest by Morsi's supporters. |
| Posted by:Fred |