Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service
According to a story by Mary Abdelmassih of the Assyrian International News agency (AINA), Michael Nabil Sanad was sentenced on April 10 2011 by a military court to three years imprisonment on charges of "insulting the military and dissemination of false news about the armed forces" in his blog "Son of Ra."
AINA said the evidence against him was a CD, including information from his blog which he had collected from news agencies. Michael Nabil was sentenced in absentia and in violation of legal procedures.
AINA said he was arrested at his home in the district of Ain Shams, Cairo on March 28 over an article on his blog titled "The army and the people were not united. Is The Egyptian Army Standing Beside the Revolution?"
The article discussed the relationship between citizens and the Egyptian army, criticizing the human rights violations and the political influence of the Egyptian military during and after the Egyptian Jan. 25 Revolution.
AINA said he wrote, "Although the armed forces repeatedly pretended to have taken the side of the revolution, they continued to detain and torture activists just like before the revolution, as if nothing had changed."
AINA said his allegations were backed by photos and videos.
AINA said Nabil Sanad, Michael's father, said he went to Al-Marg prison with his other son Mark, but the prison authorities told him that Michael cannot go on hunger strike as "he is not in an individual cell, but is placed with many other prisoners."
AINA said he informed them that Michael will go ahead with his strike regardless. The family was not allowed to see him.
"Michael is the first prisoner of conscience in Egypt after the revolution, and the only one who received such a harsh sentence for expressing his opinion," AINA reported his father said. "Others in a similar situation, whether activists or journalists, were all set free."
He said that they presented three appeals to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to pardon Michael, but have received no reply.
AINA reported that Michael's attorney, Maged Hanna, said his client went on a hunger strike on Aug. 23, and he will advise prosecution of this fact whatever the prison authorities say, "as certain steps have to be taken by the prison authorities in a hunger strike, such as informing the prosecution."
He said that he has already presented a complaint about Michael's ill treatment in prison.
Hanna said he has been told that an appeal hearing is set for Dec. 20 2011.
AINA said many activists and NGOs are calling for a stop to military prosecution of civilians, and equal treatment for Michael regarding his sentence.
AINA said that Asma Mahfouz, an activist from the April 6 Youth Movement, was charged with defaming the army and inciting armed violence on her Facebook page. The media took up her case, and on Aug. 19 military prosecutors pardoned her.
AINA said that Naguib Gabriel, head of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights Organization, sent a message to SCAF asking for equal treatment for Michael with the recently freed activists Loay Najati and Asma Mahfouz.
"The release of the Coptic activist Michael Sanad will confirm the principle of citizenship among all citizens without any discrimination based on religion," he said.
AINA said eight Egyptian human rights organizations issued a statement on April 6 criticizing the military council.
The statement read, "A military court is trying an Egyptian blogger over expressed opinions while at the same time extremists cut off a citizen's ear and are pardoned. This points to a fatal error, either in the application of justice in Egypt or in how to deal with freedom of opinion and expression after the January 25 revolution."
On April 8, U.S. Senator Mark Kirk and Member of Congress Frank Wolf wrote personally to Field Marshal Tantawi, Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, asking him not to sentence Nabil but set him free.
AINA said they wrote, "Dr. Nabil should not be punished for a simple online blog similar to thousands of others online. Dr. Nabil's arrest appears to have violated Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Therefore, we urge you to release Dr. Nabil to demonstrate the commitment of both our governments to a new era of human rights and democracy in Egypt."
AINA said the sentencing of Michael on April 10 was done in a secretive way while neither he nor any of his lawyers were present.
According to the Arab Network for Human Rights, which was also represented by a lawyer in Michael's defense team said, "Lawyers for Michael Nabil had gone on Sunday April 10 to the military court to hear the court's decision, however, the Chief of the military courts told them that the court decided to extend the provision to Tuesday, April 12. Several hours after the lawyer departed, news leaked that the verdict against the blogger was a three-year sentence ... confirmed the next morning."
Michael was arrested twice during the revolution, AINA said. The first incident was on Feb. 4, before President Mubarak was ousted. He was arrested while participating in the anti-Mubarak protests, holding a banner that read "civil, not military or religious." He was blindfolded, tortured and sexually harassed for two days before being set free. He wrote an article on his blog detailing his experience.
"What was in his blog was common knowledge to all human rights activists and organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International," AINA reported activist George Sidhom said. "He was one of the first to criticize the role of the military, and they wanted to make an example of him to all bloggers who dared criticize the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces."
AINA said Sidhom believes the different treatment Michael receives is because he is a Christian, as well as a pacifist and founder of the "No to Compulsory Conscription" Facebook page. He refused to do his military service in 2010 on pacifist grounds.
Sidhom said, "Most significantly, he is paying the price of daring to openly admire Israel and defends its right to existence, which made the media denounce him as a 'Zionist agent.'"
| Jeremy Reynalds is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, a freelance writer and also the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter,http://www.joyjunction.org He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is "Homeless in the City." Additional details on "Homeless in the City" are available at http://www.homelessinthecity. |  |
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