Protest over Egyptian coup trial

Click here on the Muslim Brotherhood website for a statement by the Istanbul-based International Association of Rights and Freedoms concerning a recent trial of 26 officers and two civilians by an Egyptian military court:

This case started back in April 2015, when coup authorities dragged the military personnel mentioned above out of their military units and subjected them to enforced disappearance for over a month. Then, a military court charged them with attempting to overthrow the government in 2013 following the ouster of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first elected civilian president.

The court did not allow the accused the right to defend themselves, totally ignored litigation standards, and imposed restrictions on the case imposing a complete blackout on proceedings. The court also prevented the lawyers from seeing the full documents of the case. Thus two cornerstones of fair trial standards fell: transparency and public announcement.

The verdict against the two civilians in the case is null and void, since the law prohibits the trial of civilians before military courts and states that trials of civilians can only be done before their natural judge.

Accordingly, the IARF calls for the cancellation of the verdict and a public re-trial with due process that guarantees all the rights of the accused and affirms that the accused civilians in the case must be tried by their natural judge, according to the procedures established by law.

If the circumstances are as stated in the protest, these proceedings violate just about every rule in the book.