- EGYPT
- August 17, 2015
- 10 minutes read
Rights Group Criticizes Sentences Against 26 Military Officers, Calls for Retrial
Verdicts and ‘court’ sentences are issued without trials or a legal due process that – in the final stages – should result in a judgment by a court based on evidence, documents etc, and in full compliance with the law at all stages of the case.
The International Association of Rights and Freedoms (IARF) deplores the verdicts issued in military court case No. 3/2015 in which 26 military personnel and 2 civilians received jail sentences ranging from life imprisonment to 15-year and 5-year jail terms.
Those convicted in this case are as follows:
Civilians:
1. Helmi Abdel-Aziz Al-Gazzar (Absent).
2. Mohamed Abdel-Rahman Ramadan (Absent).
Military Personnel:
1. Brigadier, Doctor / Yassin Abdel-Hamid Mohamed – Surgeon, Professor of Surgery and Chairman of Cardiac Surgery Department at Kobri-Qubba Military Hospital.
2. Staff Colonel, Engineer / Abdel-Hamid Mohamed Abdel-Fattah.
3. Colonel, Engineer / Tamer Ibrahim Al-Shami.
4. Lieutenant Colonel, Engineer / Hani Ahmed Fouad.
5. Lieutenant Colonel / Mohamed Azmi.
6. Brigadier / Osama Ahmed Ali.
7. Colonel / Ahmed El-Sayed "Absent".
8. Lieutenant Colonel / Mohamed Salah "Absent".
9. Lieutenant Colonel / Loai Imam Mohamed.
10. Captain / Ahmed Gabr Abdel-Ghani.
11. Captain / Osama Morsi "Absent".
12. Major / Mohamed Osama "Absent".
13. Major / Nabil Omar Ibrahim.
14. Major / Ahmed Mohamed Abdel-Tawab.
15. Major / Mohamed Abdel-Raouf Mahmoud.
16. Major / Mustafa Mohamed Mustafa.
17. Major / Tamer Ragab Khalifa.
18. Major / Mohamed Hamid Hamza.
19. Major / Mohamed Abdel-Aziz Sayed.
20. Major / Mohamed Ali Ibrahim.
21. Major / Amgad Samir Abdel-Moemin.
22. Major / Moemin Ahmed Abdel-Aati.
23. Major / Abdel-Kader Abdullah Al-Gabri.
24. Major / Mahmoud Mohamed Abdel-Rahman.
25. Major / Khalid Mustafa Ali.
26. Major / Ahmed Mohamed Rashidi.
This case started back in April 2015, when coup authorities dragged the military personnel mentioned above out of their military units and subjected them to enforced disappearance for over a month. Then, a military court charged them with attempting to overthrow the government in 2013 following the ouster of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first elected civilian president.
The court did not allow the accused the right to defend themselves, totally ignored litigation standards, and imposed restrictions on the case imposing a complete blackout on proceedings. The court also prevented the lawyers from seeing the full documents of the case. Thus two cornerstones of fair trial standards fell: transparency and public announcement.
The verdict against the two civilians in the case is null and void, since the law prohibits the trial of civilians before military courts and states that trials of civilians can only be done before their natural judge.
Accordingly, the IARF calls for the cancellation of the verdict and a public re-trial with due process that guarantees all the rights of the accused and affirms that the accused civilians in the case must be tried by their natural judge, according to the procedures established by law.
International Association of Rights and Freedoms
Istanbul – Turkey
Sunday – August 16, 2015
