Egypt: Military Trials Risk Destabilizing Transition

Eric Trager, of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, argues the continued use of military trials of civilians by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) “risks confrontation with the public.” After the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the SCAF has increasingly used military trials for civilians as a politically expedient alternative to civilian trials as well as a method of quashing dissent. Many high-profile activists and bloggers, including Coptic blogger Maikel Nabil Sanad, youth activist Asmaa Mahfouz,  Kefaya activist Maha Abu Bakr, and the leadership of the Egyptian Democratic Academy have been interrogated, arrested and/or detained. Trager aruges these prominent cases have raised the profile of military tribunals, “creating a new source of tension between the SCAF and other political forces.” Even the Muslim Brotherhood has reversed its position on the tribunals and criticized them as an “unconstitutional procedure.”  Trager argues the practice could “threaten the legitimacy of both Egypt’s political transition and the institution — the military — that Washington is counting on to shepherd a peaceful, orderly transfer of power” and urges U.S. officials to raise the issue with the SCAF.  Mohamed ElBaradei said the military trials of civilians deviates from the basic demands of the revolution, yet defended the use of military trials in the cases of rapists, thugs, and people accused of attacking security personnel.