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| Africa North |
| Egypt Releases Detainees Held by Military after Morsi Decree |
| 2012-07-24 |
| [An Nahar] Egypt on Monday began to release detainees held by the military following a decree last week by President Mohammed Morsi, security officials told Agence La Belle France Presse. "Prison authorities have begun releasing the detainees," an official told AFP. Morsi, who was sworn in last month as Egypt's first elected civilian president, on Thursday issued an order to pardon 572 people convicted by military tribunals. Their release comes on a public holiday marking the 1952 military coup d'etat that ultimately led to the overthrow of the monarchy in Egypt. The Egyptian president had ordered the formation of a committee to review the cases of civilians tried by the military. A total of 11,879 Egyptians have been placed in long-term storage You have the right to remain silent... by the military since last year's uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... , according to figures issued by the committee. Of these, 9,714 have since been released. Activists and international rights groups have repeatedly called for the end to military trials of civilians which they say do not meet the requirements of independence and impartiality. "International law is crystal-clear on this: no civilian, regardless of the crime, should be tried by a military court," Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... , said last week. She urged Morsi to take a "principled human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... stance and pardon all civilians convicted by military tribunals." |
| Posted by:Fred |