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Egyptian journalists demonstrate for a free press. AFP photo
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An Egyptian video journalist and activist is being tried in a military court for filming in an army zone.
Media rights groups have called for the
release of an Egyptian video journalist and activist facing military trial
under a controversial law that allows the army to court-martial civilians. The
army arrested Mohamed Sabry, a freelance video journalist and activist who
opposed military trials, in the eastern Sinai peninsula while he was working on
a story for the Reuters news agency, state news agency MENA reported.
Sabry, detained on Friday, has been
charged with trespassing and filming in a military zone, according to
Egyptian newspaper Ahram Online. Local newspapers reported
that Sabry’s trial was postponed from Sunday to Tuesday.
A new constitution approved in a
referendum last month allows the military to try civilians suspected of
"harming" the armed forces, a controversial clause that critics say
can be used to stifle freedom of speech.
Sabry is being held in Al-Arish
central prison. He is also a member of No Military Trials for Civilians, an
organisation that campaigns to have the internationally-condemned practice
banned. The group and Sabry’s supporters are calling for a demonstration in
front of the High Court building on Tuesday.
DCMF condemns Sabry’s arrest
The Doha Centre for Media Freedom
(DCMF) denounces the arrest of Mohammed Sabry as he was carrying out his
journalistic duties. DCMF demands the immediate release or a fair trial in a
civil court and believes that journalists should be treated
as civilians in all circumstances.
"It is particularly worrying that
a journalist seems to be facing an unfair trial by military court simply for
carrying out his work," said Amnesty International's Middle East deputy
director Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.
"The charges against Mohamed Sabry
must be dropped immediately," she said in the statement.
Sabry’s wife
told Al Ahram that she found out about his arrest through
media reports and hasn’t been able to get in touch with him since then.
According to Human Rights Watch, Article 198 of the new
constitution reads: "Civilians may not be tried before the military
justice system except for crimes that harm the armed forces, and this shall be
defined by law."
However, more than 12,000 civilians
were tried by military courts during interim army rule between February 2011,
when an uprising overthrew president Hosni Mubarak, and June 2012, when the
ruling generals handed power to a new president, the group added.
The military has retained powers under
the new constitution, reflecting its clout over decades in which every
president emerged from its ranks before the election of Islamist President
Mohamed Morsi in June.
Sabry was reporting on a new military
decree imposing restrictions on land ownership in the Sinai Peninsula.
Egyptian media under attack
In a separate incident, an Egyptian
court on Tuesday acquitted a television show presenter on charges of trying to
incite President Mohamed Morsi's murder, a judicial official said.
Tawfiq
Okasha, who hosted a show on his Faraeen television station, was put
on trial after several people complained to the court that he called on
Egyptians to overthrow Morsi and kill him. Okasha's small television station
has since been taken off air.
Several journalists and Bassem Yousef,
the host of a popular satirical television show, face trials
on charges of insulting the Islamist president.
Morsi's critics accuse him of trying to
stamp out criticism in an often hostile media as the country faces a dire
economy and a secular-leaning opposition prepares for parliamentary elections
in two months.
In a statement on Sunday, senior Morsi
aide Essam El-Haddad said most complaints against journalists were brought by
citizens, and the presidency only sues media over fabricated news reports.
Source: DCMF.
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