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Mohammed
Sabry
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An Egyptian military court on Sunday
handed a journalist a six-month suspended jail term for taking pictures of army
checkpoints on the border with Gaza, military sources said.
Mohammed Sabry is the third Egyptian
journalist to be sentenced by military tribunals since the ouster of Islamist
president Mohamed Morsi in July.
Egyptian newspaper, Daily News
Egypt, spoke to Sabry after the court’s decision.
“At the time of [my arrest] last
January, I wasn’t ok if they sentenced me for anything. I’m not guilty,”
said Sabry. “But after what’s happened in Egypt these past days and past
months, I’m now ok with the verdict. A lot of journalists went to jail. A
lot of journalists were killed in police stations, some killed doing their
job. I feel ok compared to the general situation in Egypt.”
Sabry was convicted by a military court
in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya, almost a month after the same court gave a
similar sentence to another Egyptian journalist, Ahmed Abu
Deraa.
Doha Centre for Media Freedom has
repeatedly denounced Egyptian authorities’ decision to allow the army to try
civilians in a military court. “Journalists should be treated as civilians
under all circumstances,” the centre said in a statement earlier.
Moreover, DCMF has worked with Sabry in
the last few months to provide medical and legal assistance in order to proceed
with his court case.
Security officials said armed forces
had arrested Sabry as he took pictures in the town of Rafah on the border with
the Palestinian enclave. It was unclear when he was actually arrested.
Sabry is a freelance journalist working
for several Egyptian publications.
The Egyptian authorities say they are
targeting "terrorists" in the lawless Sinai Peninsula which borders
the Gaza Strip, run by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
A Cairo military court last month
sentenced another journalist Hatem Abul Nour to a year in prison
for impersonating an army officer over the phone.
The rulings against the journalists come
as a panel tasked with amending the suspended constitution debates a clause
allowing the military to try civilians. The army insists on retaining such
powers.
The constitution, suspended when the
army overthrew Morsi, allowed the military to try civilians accused of
"harming" the armed forces.
Rights advocates say the speedy
military tribunals violate defendants' rights to impartial trials.
Source: Doha Centre
for Media Freedom
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