Saturday, April 12, 2014

Another civilian convicted by Egyptian military court

An Egyptian military court has sentenced a civilian to a year in jail in connection with the leak of a videotape of former Army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi. The offense was "harming the armed forces." According to Naharnet ("the first independent Lebanese Digital Media providing real-time news and information in English and Arabic about Lebanon, the Middle East and the World"),
[Islam al-]Homosi is expected to be able to appeal the verdict after a February presidential decree authorized a higher court to review verdicts handed down by military courts. 
Egypt's new constitution adopted in January stipulates that civilians can face military trials in cases involving attacks on military personnel or military installations.
The account does not indicate whether the higher court to which Mr. al-Homosi can appeal would be civilian or military. It noted that "[m]ilitary courts have also tried several journalists, including a newspaper reporter sentenced to a year in prison for impersonating an army officer."

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