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Al-Ahram Weekly 11 - 17 March 1999 Issue No. 420 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 11 - 17 March 1999 Issue No. 420
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Special Features Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Militant video burners
By Khaled Dawoud
get 5 to 15Bars and shops selling alcohol, video tape rental shops and huge street billboards advertising steamy pictures of Egypt's top actresses have always been among the targets of the country's largest militant organisation, Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya.
On Monday, the Supreme State Security Court sentenced four members of the Gama'a to 15 years imprisonment, five to 10 years and five to five years, all with hard labour. The members had been charged with burning in 1994 two video shops in the Cairo suburbs of Ein Shams and Zaytoun, a small cafeteria and bar in Daher and the office of one of the biggest billboard-manufacturing companies on busy Ramses street. Seven defendants, who were among 21 on trial, were acquitted. Three juveniles, who were members of the same group, were tried in a separate hearing because of their age. One of them was sentenced to three years. The other two were acquitted.
The 21 defendants were mostly young students between 20 and 26. Since they were arrested in late 1994 and early 1995, those who were sentenced to five years said they were happy because they had served almost their full terms. But those who were found innocent said they felt a great injustice had been done to them for the time wasted in prison. "What I hope is that I will be released," said Mohamed Ramadan Gharib, who was acquitted. "There are hundreds of brothers inside prison who have been acquitted several times, but new [administrative] detention orders are issued against them and they remain in prison," he added. Under the emergency law, in force since the 1981 assassination of President Anwar El-Sadat, the interior minister is empowered to detain suspects without trial.
The young, bearded defendants, dressed in white galabiyas, entered the cage in twos, handcuffed to each other. They raised copies of the Qur'an, and chanted Islamic slogans and songs, affirming their belief that they are "fighters" performing their "Islamic duty." As soon as the judge entered the courtroom, one of the defendants shouted the traditional slogan, "Judgment is the prerogative of God," indicating the militants' belief that they are being tried according to man-made laws which they do not recognise.
Twenty-five year-old Al-Azhar student El-Sayed El-Refaie, sentenced to 15 years, said he was not angry about the sentence he got, arguing that he did what he did for the sake of God. "Had we been judged according to Islamic rules, we would not have received these sentences. I did not do anything except carry out God's orders." El-Refaie also claimed that "at least 24,000 brothers are held in prisons, and many of them have not been charged or put on trial."
Khaled Abdel-Motei, who was sentenced to 10 years, insisted that the acts attributed to them were "the implementation of our Islamic duty. Preventing people from committing sins is our duty and the duty of each Muslim," he said.
Before the sentences were pronounced, Abdel-Motei read out a statement in the name of the prisoners held in Istiqbal Tora Prison. He announced their support for the so-called "cease-fire initiative" made in July 1997 by jailed Al-Gama'a leaders. Although the expatriate militants, believed to be the actual military commanders of the group, initially opposed an unconditional cease-fire and demanded concessions from the government in return, more and more jailed militants and other Islamist figures have been announcing their support for the initiative.
"The sons of Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya inside Istiqbal Tora Prison announce their support for the initiative made by the leaders of Al-Gama'a in Tora and appeal to the military units inside [Egypt] to continue showing their commitment to the cease-fire. They also call upon our brothers and leaders abroad to immediately announce their support for the initiative and to order a halt to military attacks for the sake of Islam and Muslims," Abdel-Motei said.
According to Islamist lawyers sympathetic to the call for a truce, members of Al-Gama'a have not staged any anti-government attacks since February 1998, an indication of Al-Gama'a's approval of the cease-fire. The final approval, they say, will come in due time, especially if the Interior Ministry remains committed to its policy of improving the treatment of prisoners and releasing those who were acquitted by court orders and others who have been held for years without being charged.
Mahmoud Abdel-Shafi, an Islamist lawyer, said the sentences handed down by the court were "fair and corresponded to the offences carried out by the defendants."
Since the defendants were tried on the basis of the emergency law, their sentences cannot be appealed and are subject to the approval of the country's military governor, who is the prime minister. Only prosecutors are empowered to request a retrial if they believe the sentences to be too mild. Abdel-Shafi praised the judges who presided over the case, saying they gave lawyers "all our rights for over more than three years and allowed us to present all the evidence we needed. This is one of the main differences between military and civilian courts, even when the latter are enforcing the emergency law," he told Al-Ahram Weekly.
