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Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 August 2000 Issue No. 493 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 August 2000 Issue No. 493
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Waiting for the Bar?
By:Khaled DawoudThe military trial of 20 members of the illegal Muslim Brotherhood, mainly leading figures in professional syndicates, did not come to an end on Sunday as expected. The Supreme Military Court decided instead to defer the handing down of sentences against the suspects until 3 September, fueling speculations of a possible link between the case and delayed Bar Association elections.
Although tens of family members, lawyers and sympathisers gathered in front of the Haikstep military camp, northeast of Cairo, since the early morning to attend the sentencing session, there were no indications that the court would re-convene. The defendants were not brought from their prison, and security precautions at the camp's entrance were not as tight as they could have been. Then, an army officer came to inform the families of the suspects that the handing down of the sentences had been postponed.
The defendants had been arrested in late October and their trial opened two months later. This means that by the time the court hands down the sentences, they will have already spent nearly a year in prison.
"We are, of course, not happy that they are being tried by a military court because they are civilians," said the wife of one defendant. "But we were hoping that this would have meant a speedy trial, which was the case with all previous military hearings."
When President Hosni Mubarak began in late 1992 referring militants suspected of involvement in anti-government attacks to military courts, the government's argument at the time was that their speedy procedures would serve as a deterrent. Thus, hearings involving tens of defendants would conclude in one month or six weeks. Similarly, when police launched a wide-scale crackdown against the Brotherhood in early 1995, referring over 100 members to military courts, their trials lasted for weeks only.
But the latest military trial of the 20 Brotherhood figures proved to be different. Sixteen out of the 20 suspects were arrested in late October while attending what the military prosecutor described as a "secret meeting," allegedly plotting the revival of the group's activities in professional syndicates.
The alleged secret meeting came a few days after the Court of Cassation, the nation's highest, had ruled that elections at the Bar Association, a Brotherhood stronghold, had to be organised, signaling the end of years of judicial sequestration.
Topping the list of suspects were lawyers Mukhtar Nouh and Khaled Badawi, well-known Brotherhood candidates in any Bar Association elections. Observers at that time said that the government was unwilling to see the Brotherhood win the elections and regain control over the Association. To allay the government's fears, the Brotherhood's leadership fielded a list of only eight candidates to the Association's 24-seat council. The Brotherhood also announced support for Raga'i Attia, the government's candidate for Association chairman.
Attia led a well-organised team of lawyers defending the suspects in the military trial. The court allowed lawyers ample time to question prosecution witnesses and present their defence argument that there was no solid evidence in the case. The long time taken by hearings forced lawyers to appeal to the court in its last sitting in June to set a date for handing down the sentences.
While the trial was in progress, a judicial committee running the Bar Association's affairs decided that elections would take place on 1 July. A series of appeals and counter-appeals, however, have delayed the ballot.
"When the court announced that it would hand down the sentences on 30 July, we viewed this as a political decision, intended to make the sentencing follow, and not precede, elections at the Association," said Gamal Tageddin, a Brotherhood lawyer and a candidate in the elections. "Now, it seems the situation has not changed, and that no sentences will be handed down before elections."
Thus, the delay may be good news for lawyers, said Tageddin, because it may mean that a date will be set soon for organising elections. He added that "the government had to wait because handing down harsh sentences, or even declaring the suspects not guilty, would have increased our [Brotherhood] chances of winning a larger number of seats."
Tageddin argued that in case sentences were harsh, lawyers would sympathise with their colleagues. "And in case they were found not guilty, that would also increase our popularity as a group which has been subjected to great injustice."
Like most Brotherhood members, Tageddin believes that the government does not want to see the Brotherhood take part in any elections, whether for professional syndicates or parliament.
Related stories:
Lawyers in disarray- 20 - 26 July 2000
Playing hard ball with the Brotherhood- 29 June - 5 July 2000
