Now today the court made the surprising discovery that it had not printed out the evidence against him!
And so trial was adjourned again until tomorrow, 10am, so the military court can now print a hardcopy of that blog post the military says offended them. The day after will be the pleading session. - Maikel of course has to await all this in prison. He will then already have spent a week in jail just for writing a blog post.
With or without a hardcopy - fact is, the civilian blogger Maikel Nabil is being tried by a military court because he made use of his freedom of speech. A freedom guaranteed in the Interim Constitutional Declaration the same army that is now wanting him tried only issued last Wednesday. That is illegal and totally unacceptable and is betraying every promise the Egyptian army made that the demands of the revolution for a transparent, just, democratic Egypt would be met.
Please urgently take steps to assure that Maikel Nabil will not be sentenced to 3 years imprisonment for making use of his right of freedom of speech. You can take action to support him. Please do! There is only little time left. As it stands today on Tuesday might be the verdict!
UPDATE April 4 - After a session at the military court today regarding the dealing with evidence the trial was again postponed, this time to Wednesday, April 6, 10am. That leaves only 40 hours to fight for Maikel Nabil's freedom!
UPDATE April 6 - After another session at the military court today the trial was again postponed, this time to Sunday, April 10. That shows that the military is in pains over coming to a verdict and this could speak in favour of Maikel. It also shows that the growing pressure from media coverage around the world and from activists and human rights groups is not without effect. Pressure must therefore be kept up in the next days to get him free!
UPDATE April 11 - After another long day in court yesterday the judge told the lawyers that no verdict was going to be handed down yet. A new court date was set for Tuesday, April 12, and the session was adjourned. - Today, Monday, April 11, when lawyers came to the court house they had to read in the anouncements that the military court had sentenced Maikel Nabil the evening before in his absence and the absence of his lawyers to 3 years in jail. Maikel was brought straight away to the notorious Tora prison where he is held now.
Neither his lawyers nor his family are allowed to have contact with him!
This is unparalleled in court history and an act of treachery that one can hardly believe. Both the lawyers and the accused of a trial are tricked into believing a new court date is set - and then when the lawyers are gone the accused is convicted in secrecy and thrown in jail for 3 years not even hearing the sentence being handed down!
With this act the military of Egypt has violated all rules of conduct for judicial procedures and violated the rights of the defendant in an unbelievable way!
Please sign this petition online to voice your strong protest against this unfair trial against the Egyptian blogger! This verdict of an unfair trial must be reversed immediately!
What you can do to help Free Maikel Nabil!
1. Armed Forces
Post a comment on the Facebook Page of the SCAF and demand that Maikel Nabil is set free. Point out that the freedom of speech and opinion is guaranteed by the Interim Constitutional Declaration!
2. Cabinet
Send a message via twitter to @Cabinet_EG and ask them to support the demand to set Maikel Nabil free.
Post a comment on the Cabinet's Facebook Page الصفحة الرسمية لرئاسة مجلس الوزراء المصرى
Write a mail to PM Sharaf pm@cabinet.gov.eg - On the web-site of the Government the Prime Ministers says: “It will be a pleasure to receive your communications through this e-mail." Give him the pleasure.
3. Join the Facebook Group Free Maikel Nabil Sanad الحرية لمايكل نبيل سند
Post comments, show your support, get friends to join, so the number of followers become impressing for those who think they can detain Maikel Nabil without facing resistance.
4. Write to Hillary Clinton
Send a message to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton via the website of the US State Dept. and ask urgently for supporting the demand to free Maikel Nabil. The US Dept. on Wednesday issued a statement saying the US was deeply concerned about the arrest of Bahrain blogger Mahmood. The next day Mahmood came free. - Now we need the same support for the Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil! The US must make sure it is not paying the army of Egypt for arresting bloggers and violating the right of freedom of speech!
Good luck to him. Good luck to us all.
Egyptian pacifist Maikel Nabil Sanad arrested for insulting the military
Reporters without Borders shocked at arrest of blogger Maikel Nabil
CNN Arabic reporting on military crackdown on Maikel Nabil
Ahram online reported today about Maikel Nabil and what the army is doing to him.
ReplyDeletehttp://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/9300/Egypt/Politics-/Maikel-Nabil-faces-trial-for-%E2%80%9Cinsulting-the-milita.aspx
The arguments of some activists that they are not helping him because he made pro Israel remarks are a shame to the revolution. Freedom of speech is our right and must be saved if the military attacks it. No matter if we are the same opinion of him or not. It is a violation of our rights what they do to him. So everyone must speak up!
Democracy means more than free elections and freedom of speech.
ReplyDeleteDemocracy also means empathy and care.
If one is pro-israel or not, if one is fair, brown or black, if one is muslim or kopt, if one is man or woman - nothing of this plays any role in a democratic society.
The only vital thing is that a human beeing has been arrested for nothing but telling his opinion. And this is under no cirumstances to tolerate.
And all the revolutionaries who don´t rise their voice for Maikel Nabil should be ashamed!
Done. Sent to Sec. Clinton. Don't speak Arabic so didn't go to other sites.
ReplyDeleteThanks for opportunity to help. There is NO FREEDOM without FREEDOM of SPEECH!! We learned that a very long time ago!