A non-case?
The trial of an anti-war activist charged with forming an underground communist group opened this week. Amira Howeidy was there
South Cairo Court's room 13 was unusually busy on Saturday morning. Camera crews, reporters, human rights activists and more than a dozen lawyers surrounded the defendant's cage, where a thin young man clad in white stood all alone. Thirty-four-year-old anti-war activist Ashraf Ibrahim flashed the V sign as Arab satellite channels began their coverage of his trial. Ibrahim and four other defendants (who are at large) were referred to an Emergency State Security Court in August for allegedly forming a clandestine communist organisation that aimed at overthrowing the government and replacing it with a "hard-line communist" regime.
The prosecutor's bill of indictment accused Ibrahim of allegedly leading the Revolutionary Socialists Organisation, possessing documents that detail the organisation's objectives, disseminating false information, and contacting foreign human rights organisations to provide them with reports of human rights violations in the country. All these matters, the warrant said, had the effect of "undermining Egypt's status and position".
The defendants face a maximum of 15 years in prison if found guilty.
Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly from inside the cage, Ibrahim argued that his arrest had become highly politicised "because the regime is targeting the left-wing for being outspoken during the [anti-war] demonstrations. [Leftists] also proved capable of mobilising people against the regime for taking political stances that were not in the public interest." Ibrahim described the case as a governmental message to leftists: "We will not allow you to grow after we suppressed other political groups."
In fact, activists have been closely following the case for precisely that reason; also because it represents the first communism-related case to go to trial in more than a decade.
Ibrahim's arrest was preceded by a harsh clampdown on activists involved in anti-US and anti-Israel demonstrations over the past three years. As the protests escalated this spring, more than 800 demonstrators, including students, journalists and MPs, were arrested following violent clashes with the police.
Ibrahim, who is a socialist, denied the charges against him, while voicing doubts that he would receive a fair trial. "The Emergency State Security Court was created to take instructions from the political authorities. Why else was it created? Certainly not for cases like mine." According to Ibrahim, "the verdict has already been issued, [even though] there are no real charges, and the prosecutors failed to present any real evidence."
A diplomat from the Italian Embassy (representing the European Union, which Italy currently chairs), as well as a representative from the US Embassy, attended the trial's first session. Human Rights Watch's (HRW) Gamal Abdel-Aziz, meanwhile, told the Weekly that his organisation is also attending as an observer. "This [emergency] court does not offer an objective environment and we're pursuing our campaign, which began in February, in support of the anti-war activists." Abdel- Aziz said he expected other rights groups such as Amnesty and the Lawyer's Committee to also observe future sessions.
During three sessions this week, Ibrahim's defence team requested that the court summon two witnesses: a State Security Investigations officer who wrote the first report on Ibrahim; and the computer expert who scrutinised the activist's confiscated computer for evidence.
According to Ahmed Seif El-Islam, director of the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre, which is handling the case, the court has been responding positively to the defence team's requests. In response to one of their requests, a session was held on Tuesday to display the prosecutor's confiscated evidence -- mainly dozens of papers and leaflets.
"The prosecutors have failed to present any real evidence, and we still believe that legally, Ibrahim's is a non case," Seif El-Islam told the Weekly. He also said, "there [were] still surprises in store."
The case has triggered a wave of local and international attention. A statement released by HRW as the trial began urged the Egyptian government to put an end to the proceedings. "A court that denies the basic right to a fair trial, and indictments that criminalise free speech and freedom of association, can only produce a travesty of justice," said Joe Stork, acting executive director of HRW's Middle East and North Africa Division. "If President Mubarak's talk of democratic reform meant anything, the government would halt these proceedings immediately and release Ashraf Ibrahim from detention."
Ibrahim, meanwhile, said it was certainly possible that all the international pressure on the government might affect the trial's outcome. If it did, he said, "I wouldn't want it. I don't mind paying the price for my beliefs and thoughts."
