Daily News Egypt
Abu Deraa gets suspended prison verdict
Journalist facing military trial sentenced to suspended six months in prison
Sinai-based journalist Ahmed Abu Deraa was served on
Saturday a suspended sentence of six months in prison and an EGP 200
fine by a military court in Ismailia.
Abu Deraa was arrested on 4 September and charged with intentionally spreading false information about the military.
Negad ElBorai, a human rights lawyer and director of United
Group, which was handling Abu Deraa’s case, said the verdict was
politicised.
“The verdict took political balances into consideration
rather than legal ones,” ElBorai said. “The military court considered
the international dimensions of the case; Abu Deraa is an
internationally acknowledged journalist.”
Abu Deraa, who works for the privately owned Al-Masry
Al-Youm newspaper and television channel ONTV, is the recipient of the
European Union’s Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press for an
article he wrote in 2012 on human trafficking in Sinai, a topic that is
seldom discussed.
ElBorai said that the case is not within the military
judiciary’s jurisdiction. He added that the military judiciary is “too
diffident to rule that the case is outside its jurisdiction”.
“The case involves no crime,” ElBorai said. “There is no
evidence against Abu Deraa to warrant him six months in prison, even if
the verdict is suspended.”
The military spokesman, Ahmed Ali, commented
on Abu Deraa’s detention, explaining that “he is not part of the press
syndicate and is being charged with intentionally spreading false
information where he incorrectly claimed that the military has
demolished a mosque in Rafah, expelled families from the Sheikh Zuweid
area and has targeted women and children.”
Ali stated in a press conference on 15 September that Abu
Deraa was arrested in a military area unauthorised to civilians. The
military spokesman claimed that Abu Deraa’s “accusations fall under the
jurisdiction of a military court and have nothing to do with a civil
court…if he is innocent he will be acquitted and if he is guilty he will
be charged, no one is above the law.”
Abu Deraa spent a month in solitary confinement as part of
his preventative detention. The 38 year-old award-winning journalist was
arrested at a military base, when checking on a relative who was
injured and arrested during a raid on the Sinai village of Muqat’a.
Amnesty International called last
week for the “immediate and unconditional release” of Abu Deraa, whom
they said was being detained for challenging the military’s account of
events in North Sinai.
The No Military Trials for Civilians group repeatedly called upon the Constituent Assembly to completely ban military
trials for civilians. The suspended 2012 constitution prohibits
military trials for civilians, except in cases where harm is inflicted
upon the military.
*Photo by Nasser Al- Azzazi courtesy of DNE
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