Egypt blogger sentence slammed as 'serious setback'

HRW: Egypt blogger sentence 'severe', imposed by military tribunal after 'unfair trial'.

Middle East Online

'Do not seem to have evolved since Hosni Mubarak's fall' CAIRO - Human Rights Watch on Tuesday condemned an Egyptian military court's sentencing of a blogger as "a serious setback to freedom of expression" in post-Mubarak Egypt. Maikel Nabil was sentenced on Sunday to three years in prison on charges of insulting the military in a blog post. "The sentence is not only severe, but it was imposed by a military tribunal after an unfair trial," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) assumed power on February 11 after weeks of anti-regime protests forced president Hosni Mubarak to step down. The verdict is likely to cause concern among Egypt's large network of bloggers who had hoped Mubarak's overthrow in a popular uprising would usher in a new era of freedom of expression. Since SCAF took power, "the military has arrested at least 200 protesters and tried scores of them before military courts," HRW said. "State institutions, including the military, should never consider themselves above criticism," Stork said. "It is only through a public airing of abuses and full accountability measures that Egypt can hope to transition away from past human rights violations," he said. On Monday, Reporters Without Borders condemned the ruling, saying Nabil had become "the new government's first prisoner of conscience." "The methods used by the Egyptian military do not seem to have evolved since Hosni Mubarak's fall," the group's secretary general Jean-Francois Julliard said.