Egyptian court refers five student protesters to military trials

An Egyptian criminal court ordered five university students on Monday to undergo military trials on charges of taking part in violent riots, three weeks after a law was passed allowing military trials for civilians accused of damaging state property.

According to Arabs48 news website, judicial sources said the Cairo Criminal Court, headed by Samir Asaad, referred five Al-Azhar University students to military trials on the grounds that it lacked jurisdiction over cases of rioting and torching installations.

The five students are accused of burning part of the university’s building for the Faculty of Engineering, preventing staff from doing their job and confronting security forces using violence during protests that took place last January. The students are also accused of being members of a terrorist organisation, in reference to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Cairo’s Al-Azhar University has witnessed continuous and violent clashes between Egyptian security forces and students who support ousted President Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected leader who was toppled in a coup in July 2013.

The current Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, issued a decree on 27 October allowing military trials for any civilian accused of damaging state property that the Armed Forces are responsible to protect and secure. The law was issued days after an attack killed 30 Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai. Ansar Beit Al-Maqdes, which recently announced its allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the Sinai attack.

The new law places “public and vital facilities” under military jurisdiction for two years, stating that such facilities include power plants, electricity towers, gas pipelines, railroads, road networks and bridges.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has strongly criticised the new law. “This law represents another nail in the coffin of justice in Egypt,” said HRW Middle East and North Africa Director Sarah Leah Whitson. “Its absurdly broad provisions mean that many more civilians who engage in protests can now expect to face trial before uniformed judges subject to the orders of their military superiors,” she added.