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شهادة والد أيمن عادل حفني – حكم بخمس سنوات

قصة غريبة في الاسكندرية لأب أساء تقدير الموقف وفي خلال ثلاثة أيام تم الحكم بخمس سنوات سجن على أيمن ابنه  بتهم لم يرتكبها
لا للمحاكمات العسكرية للمدنيين

ملخص الفيديو على لسان والد أيمن:ـ

والد أيمن عادل حفني محمد المتهم بقضية عسكرية رقم ١٤١ جنايات عسكرية. ابني طالب في المعهد العالي للخدمة الاجتماعية وليس بلطجياً. ابني يوم ١٩ مارس لو تفتكروا شهر مارس دة كان في إيه؟ كانت البلد عمله في ازاي. يوم ١٩-٣ أنا ابني كان تاعبني أنا ومامته مسكت ابني مش عايزه يمشي في حاجات وحشة. عنفته فابني رفض العنف بتاعي فعاند معايا، رحت خدته سلمته مكنش في شرطة، سلمته للجيش على أساس إن هما يخدو إجراء معه بسيط يعني علي قد الحدث الهو حصل . فأنا فوجئت إن الجيش ضربه وقلعه هدومه وكانوا بيتناوبوا عليه بالضرب وبيذحفوه على الأرض قدامي. أنا مقدرش أعمل حاجة أنا خفت من جيش. انسحبت سبت ابني. بعد ثلاث أيام عرفت أن ابني اتحكم عليه بخمس سينين سجن وخمس سنين مراقبة. ابني عمل إيه علشان يتحكم عليه بخمس سنين سجن وخمس سنين مراقبة. ابني معملش حاجة الجيش مقبضش عليه ده أنا سلمته علشان كان تاعبني وكنت عايز ياخده معاه إجراء على قد الحدث العمله معايا. بس بالنسبه للحدث الكبير ده كله ده يعتبر ظلم واقع على ابني.  الاتهامات إلي هما قدموها لابني قالوا عنه إن هو حامل سلاح أبيض، سرقه بالاكراه، سارق دكان خال، معندوش خال عنده دكان، سرقه بالاكراه. الاتهام الثاني محاولة تفجير أنبوبه في البيت. ترويع أهله. أنا اللي موديه وبقول هو معملش كدة معنا. ابني معملش الكلام الي في القضية. وبعدين أنا لما شعرت إن ابني اتظلم بدأت اوكل محامي علشان يعمله النقض. المحامي أخد مني فلوس النقض وقال لي إن ميعاد النقض فات خلاص. طب نعمله إيه؟ قال لي قدم إلتماس في المنطقه الشمالية ومحدش بيرد عليا. أنا لما كان المجلس العسكري قدم القرار رقم ٦٨ تقريبا إن إلي عنده شكوى يبعتها بالفاكس أنا بعتت بالفاكس والمستندات. احنا أسرة محترمه ، ليست لها أي تاريخ قضائي ومدخلناش القسم قبل كده. أنا عندي أخوه بكالوريوس تجارة خريج ٢٠٠٩، وعندي أخته مؤهل متوسط متزوجة. وابني ده إلي بيقولوا عليه سرقة بالاكراه و بلطجي ومش عارف ايه ، ابني ده  طالب بالمعهد الخدمة الاجتماعية في محرم بك. أنا مش عارف ازاي ده حصل. ازاي ده يحصل في بلد زي العندنا هنا. طب الأول النظام السابق احنا قلنا النظام السابق كان بيلفق وشرطة كانت بتلفق للناس الغلابة اللي معلهاش الضوء  وبيدخلوهم السجون. طب احنا واثقين في الجيش وواثقين في المجلس العسكري يلفق كمان الجيش نروح فين احنا كدة . إيه اللي نقدر نقوم به أرجوكم . أنا أناشد معالي السيد المشير، أناشده بالتحقيق والافراج عن ابني. ابني ليس بلطجيا ياسيادة المشير، ابني ليس مغتصب للنساء،  ابني لم يمس البلد باي شيء، ولم يمس أي منشأه في البلد. ابني مسرقش من أي حاجة في البلد، ابني وإسأل عليا وإعرف أنا مين، احنا علشان احنا معلناش الضوء .. في ناس في السجن يا سيادة المشير مظلومة كتير أوي. في ناس ملمومة مظلومة كتير أوي

Father of Ayman Adel Hifny Mohamed suspect in Military Criminal Case number 141. “My son is a student at the Higher Institute for Social Services and he’s not a thug. My son on the 20th.. the 19th of March. The 19th of March if you would remember what March was like. What the state the country was in? On the 19th of March my son was giving me and his mother a hard time. I grabbed my son, I don’t want him to go down the wrong path and do bad things. I was violent with him and he rejected my violence and was stubborn. So I handed him over.. There was no police.. I handed him over to the army so that they take small appropriate measures suitable to the incident that had occurred. I was surprised that the army started hitting him and stripped him from his clothes and took turns in beating him up and making him crawl on the floor in front of me. I couldn’t do anything I was scared of the army. I retreated and left my son, three days later I found out that he was sentenced to 5 years prison and 5 years under surveillance. What did my son do so he gets sentences to 5 years in prison and 5 years under surveillance. My son didn’t do anything. The army did not arrest him I handed him over to the army because he was giving me a hard time. I just wanted them to take a measures appropriate to what he had done with me. But this whole big deal that was made is injustice. An injustice has befallen my son. They accused him.. The accusation that were brought against him was possession of melee’ weapons, robbery. Robbing his uncle’s store. What uncle? He doesn’t have an uncle who owns a store. Robbery. The second accusation was attempt to detonate a gas tank at home and acts of terror against parents. I am the one who took him to the army and I am saying he did not do these things with us. My son did not do things that were said in the case. When I felt what was happening to my son was an injustice I hired a lawyer to repeal his case. The lawyer took money from me for the repeal and then came and told me the time for repeals had passed already. What are we supposed to do? He told me a petition. He told me to submit a petition in the North area and I did and no one has responded to it. I.. when the Supreme Council for Armed Forces issued decision number 268 I think, if someone has a complaint they can fax it. I sent a fax and documents. I sent that I .. we.. are a good family, a family that has no history with the courts or anything like this. We never even entered a police station before. We don’t even know anything in a police station. My other son, his brother has bachelors degree in commerce, he graduated in 2009. His sister has a diploma and is married. And my son the one they said is a robber and thug and I don’t know what. My son is at the Institute of Social Services in Moharam Bek. Student. I don’t know how this happened. How can this happen in our country here. At first it was the old regime, we said that the old regime used to fabricate charges… and the police used to fabricate charges for poor people that are not in the spotlight, and they used to be put in prison. But this is the army, the army we trusted and the Supreme Council of Armed Forces are fabricating charges as well. Where are we supposed to go then now? What can we do? Please. I beseech his Excellency Mr. Field Marshal. I beseech him to investigate and release my son. My son is not a thug Mr. Field Marshall. My son is not a rapist. My son has not harmed the country in any way. He has not harmed any institution in the country. My son has not stolen anything from the country. My son, and ask about me and know who I am. It is because we are not in the spotlight. People are in prison Mr. Field Marshall unjustly a lot of people are collected in prisons and extremely oppressed. “

مؤتمر صحفي السبت 20 أغسطس

تتشرف لجنة الحريات بنقابة الصحفيين و مجموعة لا للمحاكمات العسكرية للمدنيين بدعوتكم لحضور المؤتمر الصحفى الذى سينعقد فى نقابة الصحفيين الموافق السبت 20 اغسطس فى نمام الساعة 12:00 ظهرا بالدور الثالث . سيناقش التصعيد الذى حدث مؤخرا فى المحاكمات العسكرية من حيث الاحكام ،التهم، استهداف النشطاء والمتظاهرين السلميين. سيحضر المؤتمر اهالى المحكوم عليهم و منظمات سياسية وحقوقية بالأضافة لشخصيات عامة للإدلاء بتصريحات عن موقفهم من المحاكمات العسكرية للمدنيين. يشرفناحضورك ودعمك. شكرا …

Freedom Committee Journalism Syndicate and No Military Trials for civilians would like to cordially invite you to attend a press conference that will be held at the Press Syndicate on Saturday, August 20th at 12:00 pm third floor. The conference will address the recent escalation in military trials in terms of sentencing, charges, and the targeting of activists and peaceful demonstrators. The convicted families and Political and human rights organizations will be present along with some public figures to make a statement. We appreciate your attendance and support. Thank you

( لا للمحاكمات العسكرية للمدنيين (بيان 1 -الإسكندرية

 بيان رقم ١ – الإسكندرية

تعلن مجموعة لا للمحاكمات العسكرية للمدنيين بالإسكندرية رفضها التام لما قامت به الشرطة العسكرية يوم ٢٠١١/٨/٨ أمام المحكمة العسكرية بثروت الإسكندرية أثناء محاكمة المتظاهرين المعتقلين على خلفية أحداث يوم ٢٠١١/٧/٢٢أمام المنطقة الشمالية بالإسكندريه والتي أجلت لثاني مره إلى يوم ٢٠١١/٨/١٥ لسماع المرافعات و  المتمثلة في :

١. تواجد أعداد مبالغ فيها وغير مبرره من قوة الشرطة العسكرية

٢. غلق الطريق المؤدي إلى المحكمة و منع المتضامنين من الوصول إليها

٣. تهديد المتضامنين و منعهم من الهتافات، رفع الشعارات و التصوير

٤. التضليل العمد لأهالي المعتقلين و إقناعهم أن وجود وقفات تضامنية تضر بمصلحة القضية و تؤثر سلبا على الحكم

٥. الاستفزاز المتعمد من الشرطة العسكرية والأمن المركزي للمتضامنين

هذا و تستمر المجموعة في العمل على المطالبة بحق جميع المدنيين في المثول أمام قضاء مدني عادل و مراعاة الظروف الصحية للمحتجزين كما ترفض التباطؤ المتعمد في الإجراءات

مجموعة لا للمحاكمات العسكرية للمدنيين (الإسكندرية)

Nomilitrials.alex@gmail.com  0194874569

Alexandria – Statement no. 1

The “No Military Trials for Civilians” Group in Alexandria announces its complete rejection to measures taken by military police by on August 8^th, 2011 in front of the Military court in Tharwat area in Alexandria during the trial of protesters, who were arrested on July 22^nd, 2011 in front of the northern military headquarters in Alexandria. The trial was postponed to August 15^th, 2011. These measures are as follows:

1- The existence of so many and unjustified forces from the military police

2- Blocking the road to the court and preventing people who came for solidarity from reaching the court

3- Misinforming families of the arrested protesters and convincing them that such standings could have a negative impact on the court’s sentence

4- Deliberated provocation from the military police and central security forces for people who were standing in solidarity

The Group continuous to work on demanding the rights of all civilians to face civilian courts and taking into account the health conditions of the detainees, and also refuses the intended slowdown in the procedures.

The “No Military Trials for Civilians” Group in Alexandria

Nomilitrials.alex@gmail.com  0194874569

ما بين مطرقة الأحكام العسكرية وسندان وزارة الداخلية

ما بين مطرقة الأحكام العسكرية وسندان وزارة الداخلية

يفقد السجناء حقوقهم وحياتهم

فيما أطلقت عليه وزارة الداخلية حملة تفتيش على السجون، أعلنت عنها يوم 24 يوليو الجاري، قام عساكر وضباط سجن الوادي الجديد بالاعتداء بالعصي والكابلات البلاستيكية، على أعداد كبيرة من نزلاء عنبر 8 و 9، وهو عنبر المحاكمين عسكريا، مما اسفر عن اصابة العشرات من ضمنهم السجين أبو المعاطي أحمد أبو عرب وشخص أخر بكسور وشروخ في الساق، إضافة الى سجين آخر على الأقل هناك تخوف من كونه أصيب إصابة مميتة.

كان أبو المعاطي أبو عرب وهو أحد المتظاهرين الصادر بحقهم أحكام عسكرية بالسجن مدة خمس سنوات قد تمكن من ايصال معلومات لوالده تفيد أنه مصاب بكسر في قدمه هو وشخص أخر في عنبر 8 بسجن الوادي الجديد بعد أن تعدى عليهم وعلى مساجين أخرين عساكر وضابط السجن بالضرب المبرح باستخدام العصي الغليظة ولمدد طويلة، وطلب أبو المعاطي نقله لمستشفى السجن لتلقي الرعاية الطبية ولكن مسئولي السجن رفضوا.

ومن ناحية اخرى كان شقيق عمرو البحيري (أحد معتصمي ميدان التحرير والصادر بحقه في 1 مارس 2011 حكم من محكمة عسكرية بالسجن خمس سنوات والمسجون بمعتقل الوادي الجديد) في زيارة لشقيقه في السجن صباح يوم 25 يوليو الجاري وشاهد شقيقه يقف في حوش السجن ومعه أربعة اشخاص أخرين وبجوارهم مسجونين مصابين يرقدان على ناقلة، أحدهما لا يتحرك وتخرج مادة رغوية من فمه، والاخر يصرخ من الالم. أكد محمد البحيري أن مأمور السجن أمر بركوب المساجين سيارة الترحيلات، لكن ضابط الترحيلات رفض استلام المسجون الذي يحتضر وقال “لن أنقل سجين ميت” وطلب نقله في سيارة اسعاف، لكن مأمور السجن رفض وأمر بحمله ووضعه على ارضية سيارة الترحيلات. وطلب شقيق البحيري من ضابط الترحيلات أن يفك القيد الحديدي من يد المسجونين وهم في سيارة الترحيلات لطول المسافة (48 ساعة على الأقل) ولكنه رفض.

يأتي هذا الاعتداء على نزلاء سجن الوادي الجديد ليضيف حلقة جديدة الى مسلسل الانتهاكات الذي تعرض له نزلاء عنبر 8 و 9 والتي بدأت بمحاكمتهم أمام القضاء العسكري بدلا من قاضيهم الطبيعي ثم تعريضهم لحملة من العنف البدني والعقاب الجماعي مع تعمد الإذلال والإهانة وذلك في الوقت الذي رفعت فيه كافة القوى السياسية المصرية مطلب التطهير لكافة مؤسسات الدولة وعلى رأسها وزارة الداخلية، ورغم ما يصدر عن المجلس العسكري والوزارة من تصريح تلو الآخر بأن التطهير جار على قدم وساق، مع نفي وإنكار لحدوث أي انتهاكات، خاصة وأن أحداث الوادي الجديد ليست الأولى من نوعها حيث تم رصد العديد من الحالات المشابهة في سجن ليمان طرة يوم 28 مارس الماضي وفي سجن شبين الكوم يومي 4 و 5 مارس.

المنظمات الموقعة على هذا البيان إذ تدين استمرار هذا النهج القمعي في التعامل مع نزلاء السجون، وإذ تطالب بالوقف الفوري لاستخدام العنف البدني ضد السجناء وسياسات العقاب الجماعي.

·        تحمل وزارة الداخلية والمجلس العسكري مسئولية سلامة السجناء المنقولين وأحدهم في حالة احتضار حتى أن المسئول عن الرحيلات رفضت نقله في البداية الى أن أجبرها مدير السجن على ذلك.

·        تطالب وزارة الداخلية بالإعلان عن مكان وجود السجناء الذين تم ترحيلهم والإعلان عن حالتهم الصحية، وتقديم الرعاية الصحية الفورية للمصابين منهم

·        تطالب بالتحقيق الفوري في أحداث العنف التي شهدها سجن الوادي الجديد تحت دعوى التفتيش على السجن، مع محاكمة كافة من يثبت تورطه في هذه الجرائم.

·        وبشكل عام تحمل وزارة الداخلية مسئولية سلامة السجناء في جميع الأوقات، داخل السجن وأثناء عمليات الترحيل. وتطالب وزارة الداخلية بالإعلان عن إجراءات التطهير وإعادة الهيكلة التي تتخذها، لأن يبدو من تلك الأحداث، أنه ما زال يتم التعامل مع السجناء والمعتقلين بنفس الأسلوب القديم الذي كان متبع في ظل نظام مبارك، مما يعني صورية إجراءات التطهير وإعادة الهيكلة.

·         وقف المحاكمات العسكرية للمدنيين وإعادة محاكمة المحاكمين عسكريا أمام قاضيهم الطبيعي.

الموقعين (أبجديا)

الجبهة القومية للعدالة والديمقراطية

حركة المصري الحر

الشبكة العربية لمعلومات حقوق الإنسان

مؤسسة حرية الفكر التبعير

المبادرة المصرية للحقوق الشخصية

مجموعة لا للمحاكمات العسكرية للمدنيين

مركز القاهرة لدراسات حقوق الإنسان

المركز المصري للحقوق الاقتصادية والاجتماعية

مركز النديم للعلاج والتأهيل النفسي لضحايا العنف

مركز هشام مبارك للقانون

The File on Torture, Abuses, and Virginity Tests

(Original Arabic article written By Rasha Azb – @RashaPress on twitter – published in El Fagr newspaper – translation by a member of the No Military Trials Group – any translation mistakes are not hers, please blame me the translator for any such errors.)

Details of a Meeting inside the Military Area

I stood at the gates of heaven, guarding it alone. I am the sacred heart of the Square and the Job of the long black nights. I am the only star in the sky of Justice. I am certainty in the time of doubt and joyful in my intuition that allows me to charge dry language with meaning and drive a pulse into an otherwise limp body. I am the people who protected their revolution on their own, alone with no help from another. The soldiers who wear army and police uniforms follow me – the eagle and the swords hanging on their shoulders – a boon that is mine to give, and not taken upon me – because I am the source of all things.

These people deserve better than these mere words, and I know that – the people deserve more because they rose up and they all sacrificed – on the daily level by working hard and struggling to educate their children, to buy a new gas cylinder and poor loaf of bread, and by standing at the front lines of the revolution to feed its flames and to protect it – and protecting the revolution is not something that the military establishment alone concerns itself with – since you cannot deprive the maker from what he has made, and the baker from his bread – and we cannot continue to simply call for demands and rights that we earned by blood and spirit – we cannot sell the most precious part of our revolution – our pride – it’s simply not acceptable that we close the prisons of the ministry of the interior only to open up new military prisons – and we cannot allow the Central Military Judiciary Area to become the new Lazoghly (the National Security HQ where torture was common). The activists and the revolutionaries continue their battle against torture and against the military trials of civilians, against the authority of any entity that tries to control the gains that millions of Egyptians achieved for themselves. This is the message that was delivered to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in the recent meeting which was attended by several activists and which ended with three important recommendations that are waiting for a time-table. And they are; the promise to transfer the military trials file to an investigative judge and the reconsideration of a complete cessation of military trials for civilians, a commitment to release all detained revolutionaries, as well as a commitment to fully investigate all violations and abuses committed by members of the armed forces in the last few months.

Confronting General Al-Rowainy with Videos Showing Tortured Revolutionaries

At exactly 8:30pm on the night of the Friday of Anger, the 28^th of January in Tahrir Square, Egyptians, for the first time saw tanks being driven beside them. They saw the members of the elite army squadrons and saw the armored vehicles at street entrances – at this time, the population had devastated the forces of the ministry of the interior within the last four hours and the regime had no other recourse but to resort to the army.

None of us really know how the famous chant of “The Army & the People Are One!” came about but we realized immediately that it had emerged as a way to ‘pacify’ – and it was a quintessentially Egyptian way of neutralizing the new actor whose role and alliances were as yet undetermined. So the chant came out to secure the peace and to avoid another battle in what was a very volatile situation. The relationship held at that level despite the absurdities that occurred during the Battle of the Camels on February 2^nd and that all happened within sight of the armed forces – except that the general feeling inside Tahrir Square was to remain non-confrontational with the army and to take cover under the chant ‘The Army & the People Are One!” – a cliché that was quickly to become of the revolution’s main clichés.

In parallel with the political role being played by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces as the sole political authority in the land, there were exercises of this authority on the ground – especially in the absence of any police forces. This clear role on the part of the Military Police and other parts of the armed forces was, by virtue of the situation, kept quiet until the events of early February 26 – the date of the first sleep-in that was evacuated by force by the army, and during which protesters were attacked and then a formal apology by SCAF was released to the press the next morning.

The storm then cleared, and protests continued with the aim of ousting the government formed and led by Shafiq – and sure enough – within 10 days of protests and sleep-ins, the entire Shafiq cabinet was dropped. On the 9^th of March the tension between the protesters and the military became much more confrontational – as the army dispersed the Tahrir sleep-in at around 6pm – in cooperation with ‘civilians’ who it later turned out were members of military intelligence. Of those who were in Tahrir, twenty activists were detained and most of those were tortured and humiliated near the Egyptian Museum – and the Egyptian Museum thus remained an icon of torture for a while because of protesters being detained and arrested in its vicinity. These violent dispersals continued and were repeated at the Faculty of Media and near the State TV building at Maspero – and they reached their peak on April 9^th which is now called Bullet Friday and in all these cases the army used violence. Various human rights organizations and groups of activists called attention to the recurring violence and torture but the official statements by the armed forces absolutely refused to admit to these incidents and the Supreme Military council (once again) announced that it was protecting the revolution and the revolutionaries, and so conflict remained the reality of the situation between the activist revolutionaries and the Supreme Military Council that has been behaving in this fashion for a period of almost 4 months to this date.

In this period, the performance of SCAF has varied from feeble dialogue with some of the political powers and violent conflict. It was in no way acceptable that the activists keep reporting cases of torture while SCAF insisted on rejecting as lies all reports without even announcing that it would investigate these reports to verify their authenticity. After a while, rejecting the reports of military police abuses was not enough, and SCAF released their communiqué number 50 which, in direct contradiction with communiqué 45 (which claimed the army never detained any protesters), announcing that they would release all revolutionaries detained from March 9. This is after their denial of detaining protesters and their insistence that they only arrested thugs and outlaws. Gradually, and with growing political pressure from the No Military Trials group, that was formed after violent dispersal of the March 9 protests and that has systematically worked to document violations by the military police and the armed forces, the picture started to change and these issues were raised on the large political landscape after they had been consigned to the background because of the weakness of the old political powers as well as the new ones – that chose not to address these issues since they conflicted directly with the current ruling power in Egypt.

Due to the previously mentioned reasons, the SCAF tried to reply by holding meetings and conferences with revolutionary youth to try to change the picture that had now been emerging. Calls were made for a conference in which the leadership of the armed forces spoke while the youth remained silently seated at the back of the conference hall, in addition to hundreds of protesters holding a demonstration outside the theater where the conference was held in response to SCAF statements regarding the ‘virginity-test abuses’. Of course, the ‘meeting’ turned out to be a political tool to enhance the image of SCAF and many of the attendees came out even more shocked at the performance of SCAF, not to mention that a large number of the most prominent youth coalitions had refused to attend from the very start.

There is nothing left now except conflict, and there is no way to avoid seeing the reality of the situation as it truly is. When Dr. Mamdouh Hamza, the media spokesman for the National Congress, presented a simplified memo about the violations of SCAF during the last four months and it led to a large discussion inside SCAF – which led to SCAF requesting to meet with the group most responsible for documenting military police violations and which was known as the No Military Trials group to the media – in order for them to present their findings which they had collected, in documents and in testimonies, during the last period. The idea for such a meeting was discussed within the group internally, and conditions were agreed on for such a meeting by the members. The group decided that the group itself would decide which of its members would attend the meeting, and that they would decide the topics of discussion, primarily dealing with Military Trials, violations, abuses, and the issue of virginity testing. Accordingly, all relevant documents and files were collected and presented to the representatives of the SCAF, the group also defined clear demands before attending the meeting so as to keep the focus clear. Three members of the group were specifically chosen to discuss these files, they were Ahmed Raghed, a lawyer, Ragia Omran, another lawyer, and Mona Seif, an activist from the group, also included was Dr. Ahdaf Souif and well as testimonies from a boy and a girl who had been arrested in Tahrir and subjected to physical and psychological torture, as well as Dr. Mamdouh Hamza who had helped organize the meeting.

For five days, the No Military Trials group worked on preparing the files it was to present to the SCAF as documentary evidence for discussion, and on the morning of Monday, at exactly 12pm the group arrived at the headquarters of the central military area in Abbaseya to commence their dialogue with General Hassan El Rowainy the leader of the central military area and General Said Abbass and General Magdy Barakat, and in contradiction to most ‘dialogues’ between revolutionaries and the SCAF, the revolutionaries started to talk while the members of SCAF listened as several files were put before them – all documenting and proving many instances of army violations and abuses. The generals were forced to deal with these files, since they could no longer deny them, however, this is not to say that General Rowainy did not, in fact, look surprised by the images of torture he saw, and the testimony he heard from live witnesses, and he also apologized to one of them, Marwa, for what happened to her at in military detention, assuring that such actions were individual actions and did not represent the morality of the army or its basic principles.

Threatening Female Protesters with Prostitution Charges

This file was explosive, and took the lion’s share of the meeting (with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces – henceforth SCAF) due to the complications it brings about and the many cases involved, perhaps also because it was the mine that blew up the relationship between the revolutionaries and the SCAF during the last period. The file contained many abuses classified by the categories inside it; physical abuses like the severe bodily torture that many of the revolutionaries were subjected to besides the Egyptian Museum on the 9^th of March, 2011. What happened that day can be summarizes as follows: a large number of protesters were collected in an open space and thrown on the ground; they were not allowed to lift their heads, and then a torture party started in which they were tortured with electrical cables, whips, batons, and thick black leather. Of the 170 youth captured, none were spared in rounds of torture that was all too similar to the infamous torture parties held by the (now supposedly defunct, but in fact mostly re-named) National Security.

Of course these cases were revealed, by some who were released that day – such as Ramy Essam, who is known for singing revolutionary songs in Tahrir and who was subjected to a special torture party in addition to having his hair shaved by a razor and being made to kneel for prolonged periods of time. Ramy’s testimony was presented – in video and in photographs – all taken immediately upon his release from the Museum – as he told people about his horrible experiences. Besides Ramy’s testimony, another testimony was presented by the actor Ali Sobhy who continued the torture journey and was taken to Military Detention – where he was subjected to brutal humiliations, foremost in his mind was seeing photographs of Ex-President Mubarak still hanging on the walls of the Military Prisons, something which the protesters could scarcely believe!

The testimony’s came from 35 revolutionaries and citizens that had been detained since the revolution began, and these are testimonies that the Nadim Center for Mental Rehabilitation exposed. These testimonies presented an enormous amount of information regarding how torture had become a systematic instrument in dealing with all those detained since March 9 – amongst which are workers, journalists, company managers, housewives, students, and engineers – all of whom were detained from Tahrir or while breaking up the demonstrations at Lazoghly. It was very clear from all the testimonies that those detained were subjected to psychological trauma and abuse, and that the intention was to insult the revolution and all those who had participated in it. It’s worth noting that the testimonies also included 50 testimonies from Mansoura – from people who had been arrested there on February the 3^rd – i.e. – during the revolution proper – all of which indicates the reality – that the detention and torture of revolutionaries started a long time ago, while the pace of events distracted people from these detentions. It also proves that the revolutionaries were being at military prisons during the revolution, because they were participating in the revolution. Not only that, but the testimonies indicate that the tortures and interrogations were happening inside the Military Police headquarters at Nasr City, or at the Military Prisons in the Hikestep – since the very first days of the revolution. Of those that were released, many were stripped of most of their clothing and taken and abandoned in the desert, which, in some cases, led to deaths as they tried to make their way home.

As for the treatment of girls during these traumatic experiences, most of the testimonies agreed that the members of the armed forces treated them as though they were prostitutes coming from a whore house, and meant to insult them accordingly so as to pile on the psychological and emotional abuse, this of course, reached its peak with the ‘virginity tests’ – which the leadership of the armed forces defended as being part of the normal military protocol used with females who work in the army. The girls were subjected to these tests against their wills and after most of them had been electrocuted after they had refused this vile procedure. The girls were also threatened that they would be faced with prostitution charges if they did not submit to having their ‘virginity’ tested.

Thousands of Protesters in Prison since January 28

The file regarding the military trials that Egypt has been seeing over the last few months, and specifically since the army took to the streets of Egypt since January 28^th – includes the text of the military statements starting from the 1^st statement, going through the 23^rd, the 24^th, the 34^th, the 45^th, and finally SCAF’s statement No. 50. These statements clearly outlined a commitment from the SCAF to protect demonstrators and revolutionaries, then showed the choice to detain some of them, and then finally to release some of them after a journey of torture that last several long months. In this file, are thousands of cases of Egyptians who have been subjected to military courts without being provided any legal guarantees to defend themselves or even to allow their loved ones to know where they are in any definitive way, and the lawyers who attended some of the trials stated that trying civilians in military courts is a violation of their basic human rights. The lawyers also revealed that they had been mistreated and harassed inside the offices of the military prosecution, that they had not been given any clear information about those accused and how they were to be tried or even how the lawyers could go about defending them, all of which is a clear and disturbing obstruction to justice. The information also made it clear that the numbers of those tried in military courts reaches to the thousands – all of whom were presented to the military courts without lawyers and who had been arrested in Tahrir, and various neighborhoods and governorates, and had been distributed in various prisons in Qatta, Fayoum, and El Wadi El Gadeed – the lawyers thus asked for a prompt declaration of all the names of those detained under the military judiciary and that their files be transferred to a civilian judge to be re-tried under better circumstances and in the presence of lawyers. A preliminary list of 153 detainees who had been tried without lawyers was also presented.

Press release regarding the meeting of “No Military Trials for Civilians” group with the Supreme Council of Armed Forces

Press release regarding the meeting of “No Military Trials for Civilians” group with the Supreme Council of Armed Forces

Based on the Supreme Council of Armed Forces’ invitation, a delegation of the group will be meeting with a number of representatives of the Council on the morning of Monday, June 15 2011.

The group had received the invitation with surprise; we had already presented the group’s demands more than once and demanded investigations regarding the actions of certain army and military police personnel actions towards citizens. Recommendations have been issued in multiple conferences and from several political forces, yet neither have the demands been met, nor were said actions suspended.

Our demands are as follows:

1. Immediately putting an end to military trials for civilians, and the transfer of any civilians to the General Prosecutor to be tried in normal civilian courts. Both the military police and regular police are to be instructed not to transfer civilians to the Military Prosecution, save in the case of their involvement in any crime on military premises. Furthermore, a statement must be issued within a week from the day of the meeting, promising to refrain from trying any civilians in military courts.
2. The protection of peaceful forms of assembly (demonstrations, sit-ins and strikes), considering their being achievements of the revolution, and not assaulting any of the partakers (such as the Petrojet workers who are currently being military tried).
3. Immediate disclosure of numbers and information of all civilians brought before military courts starting the 25th January 2011 up to this day, and retrying them in normal courts within a specific time-frame in the near future.
4. The annulment of all sentences issued to revolutionaries, including suspended sentences, and fulfilling earlier promises concerning the immediate release of imprisoned revolutionaries, applying article (99) of military judicial law, within a near announced time frame.
5. Investigating violations committed by certain army and military police personnel towards citizens (physical assault, torture, virginity checks on female protesters, etc…) while setting a time-frame for the investigation and publicly announcing the results.
6. Issuing an official apology regarding said violations committed by army and military police personnel, and compensating victims of torture and unjust military trials.

Let it be known that the group will be issuing a press release as soon as the meeting is over, stressing and announcing the meeting’s outcome to the public.

Testimonies of army violations: Virginity tests

Salwa was in Tahrir sit in on March 9th.

The sit in was violently dispersed by the army with the aid of plain clothed thugs.

Salwa was arrested along with more than 160 protester that day, and they all suffered torture & humiliation.

Salwa was with another 17 women, some of them were forced to submit to ” virginity tests” with the underlying threat of prostitution charges.

Here are their stories:

Testimonies:

Female social worker, single, 29 years old, arrested Wednesday 9 March

I was in Tahrir since the 25^th of January. On the 9^th of March I was doing some errands to pay the university fees. When I returned to Tahrir at 12 noon there was a counter demonstration: the people want to empty the square. They were shooting in the air. I felt terrified. Some of my friends were taken by the army and were not returned. We suggested that a group of us girls go and look for the boys in the museum. We were 5 at first and then we became more. We were chanting: the people and the army together. They opened the main gate of the museum for us and an officer said: come in. I was beaten and pushed. They told me come in you —- and they used very obscene words. When I went inside I found a young woman crying. She said they electrocuted me and her mobile was taken and broken. She was in a nervous breakdown. They tied my hands behind my back. It was loose and they had to tighten it again and again. Then 8 girls came among them journalists and university students and one of them was a university graduate. Obscene words, prostitutes, that is what they called us. The girls collapsed and began to cry. I started to collapse around sun set. Every while or so an officer would come and tell me I shall squash you. They let the journalists and the university graduates leave. At night the real problems began. I started to argue with them. I told them I want to go home. They took us in a bus and took pictures of us. I was very, very brutally beaten in the bus. They focused on me because I answered back. I spat in their faces. I was pulled like an animal from the bus. I was kicked in front of the general. I would faint, they would throw water on my face and then continue beating. We arrived at Madinet Nasr. I was screaming. We spent the night in the bus. The prison guard stripped us and was beating us with hoses. She said “girls will be examined”, women won’t. I was examined for my virginity by a man wearing a white coat and a female prison guard. The prosecution came to prison. I was interrogated by the prosecution Friday evening at 10 p.m.

Female, 25 years old (arrested on 9^th of March)

She came from her home more than eight hours away in January to join in the protests in Tahrir Square. Like many others, she has stayed in Cairo, occasionally returning to camp out in the square as a reminder of the democratic promises that the military and remnants of the old regime have made. She was in the square on the afternoon of March 9 when members of the army and men in plainclothes attacked the demonstrators, arbitrarily arresting people on sight. She was one of the protesters who was dragged away from Tahrir that afternoon. Soldiers beat and kicked her. They tore her headscarf from her. And then, in what was as bizarre as it was shocking, they took her and other peaceful demonstrators to the famed Egyptian museum on the north side of the square — to be tortured. She was handcuffed to a wall in the museum complex. For nearly seven hours — almost every five minutes, she was electrocuted with a stun gun. Her torturers would sometimes splash water on her and others to make the shocks more painful. The electrical jolts were applied to her legs, shoulders and stomach. She pleaded with the soldier to stop. Repeating what the demonstrators had chanted in Tahrir Square, she said, “I begged them. I said, ‘You are my brothers. The army and the people are one.’” Her tormentor replied, “No, the military is above the nation. And you deserve this.” At around 11 p.m., she and others were moved to one of the main military prisons. She would remain there for three more days. Over those days, the abuse, insults and intimidation continued. They spit on her. All of her belongings were stolen. She was given kerosene-soaked bread for food. But the most humiliating moment was when they first brought her into the prison. She and 10 other women arrested in the square were stripped and forcibly examined to determine whether they were virgins. She had been told that any woman found not to be a virgin would have prostitution added to her charges. When they led her into the room where she would suffer this indignity, she paused for a moment. Behind the military man waiting for her, she noticed a photograph. It was a portrait of Hosni Mubarak. She asked the soldier, “Why do you keep that up there?” He replied, “Because we like him.”http://wapo.st/gy7kZN

Young female who spoke at the press syndicate on the 16^th of March

On Wednesday I went to Tahrir square. I saw my friends being beaten and arrested. I don’t know where I got the courage to stand up to them and say kill me or release my friends. They arrested me with others, about 15 people. They told me the army wants you. They took me to a general. He saw me and said: calm down, calm down and then started slapping me and accused me of prostitution. He said: you are all over the country and people are just following you. They took me to the museum and electrocuted me in my legs. There was a woman whom they electrocuted in her chest. Terribly rude. Dirty language. A colleague tried to help us, they beat him brutally. In the military prison they made us take off our clothes. They would examine us if we were virgins. They said any girl who is not a virgin will be charged of prostitution. http://on.fb.me/i86eRR

Related links:

Amnesty report: Egyptian protesters forced to take virginity tests

Egyptian general admits “virginity checks” conducted on protesters

هيومان رايتس واتش: المحاكمات العسكرية تخطف نظام العدالة

تقربير الهيومان رايتس واتش الجديد بخصوص المحاكمات العسكرية للمدنيين في مصر

http://www.hrw.org/ar/news/2011/04/29

No Military Trials لا للمحاكمات العسكرية!!

فيلم وثائقي قصير عن محاكمة المدنيين عسكرياً في مصر

Documenting April 8th & 9th sit in…توثيق فض اعتصام التحرير 9 أبريل

تناشد مجموعة ” لا للمحاكمات العسكرية للمدنيين” كل من شارك في اعتصام ميدان التحرير يومي 8 و 9 أبريل ان يرسلوا لنا شهاداتهم عن أحداث فض الاعتصام لضمها  لتقرير توثيقي نعمل على تجميعه و تقديمه للجنة تقصي الحقائق المكلفة من قبل وزارة العدل.

يرجى ارسال الشهادات, و اي مادة توثيقية  مصاحبة (فيديو -صور, ..) و بيانات للاتصال بكم ان امكن, على

nomiltrials@gmail.com

موقع المجموعة: https://tahrirdiaries.wordpress.com

“No military trails for civilians” group urges those who participated in Tahrir sit in on April 8th & 9th to send us their written testimonies of what they saw during the dispersion of the sit in. These testimonies will be added to the report we are compiling to submit to the fact finding committee assigned by ministry of justice to investigate events of that day.

Please send us your testimonies & any documented material ( Videos, pictures, ..) , along with contact information if possible on nomiltrials@gmail.com

Blog of the group: tahrirdiaries.wordpress.com

Witnesses of torture شهود على التعذيب

On 16th of March the Liberties Committee at the press syndicate hosted a press conference in which families of detainees facing military trials & recently released/tortured detainees, shared with us their stories.

This is Al Masry Alyoum’s video coverage of that day (Eng subtitles) Witnesses of torture.

في يوم 16 مارس دعت لجنة الحريات بنقابة الصحافيين مؤتمر صحفي شاركنا فيه أهالي المعتقلين الذين يواجهون محاكمات عسكرية, و المعتقلين الذين أفرج عنهم مؤخرا و تعرضوا للتعذيب, قصصهم.

فيديو المصري اليوم عن هذا اليوم… شهود على التعذيب