Egypt: Blogger gets 3 years in jail for insulting the military

Cairo, 11 April - (AKI) - An Egyptian military court on Monday sentenced political activist Mikel Nabil to three years in prison for insulting Egypt's ruling military, Al-Masry al-Youm reported.

The military prosecution charged Nabil with "publishing false information" and "insulting the Armed Forces".

Human rights activists said the court misled Nabil's defence team, first saying it was postponing the ruling but then postponing the sentence after the team had left the courtroom.

Lawyer and human rights activist Negad al-Boraie, a member of the defence team, had told Al-Masry Al-Youm earlier that he feared his client was not going to have a fair trial.

The verdict is likely to cause concern to Egypt's large network of bloggers who had hoped the overthrow of authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak in mid-February following a popular uprising would usher in a new era of freedom of expression.

Nabil's is the first such case since the Egyptian army took over the leadership of the country and some activists believe the trial being used to set an expample intended to curb criticism of the military council ruling Egypt until elections due to be held later this year.

Egyptian security forces arrested Nabil on 28 March after he published an article on his blog that claimed the army was involved in torturing detainees during the three weeks of violent unrest that began on 25 January. The article cited international news reports as references.

Nabil's sentence came despite a campaign launched by internet activists on the popular social networking site Facebook and the microblogging website Twitter, calling for his release. US-based campaign group Human Rights Watch last week called on the military to free Nabil.

Human rights organizations say the trial of civilians before military tribunals violates the principle of fair and public trial.