• MB News
  • September 4, 2007
  • 4 minutes read

Qurabi: Human Rights Groups Should Move to Monitor MB Military Court

Qurabi: Human Rights Groups Should Move to Monitor MB Military Court

Dr. Ammar Qurabi directed on Monday evening a call to civil society institutions, specially Human Rights Organizations, to work for monitoring military courts trying Muslim Brotherhood (MB) leaders, topped by engineer Khairat Al-Shater, the second deputy chairman of the Egyptian moderate group.


Qurabi, envoy of the Paris-based Arab Committee for Human Rights and Geneva-based UN High Commission for Human Rights said that what the Egyptian authorities along with their security services are committing are serious escalation against human rights in general, citizens” right to believe whatever ideology they want.


“This military tribunal currently trying forty businessmen, university professors and political activists is a serious violation that should stir human rights organizations in Egypt to face it due to the fact that it is illegal to refer civilians to a military court and that the standards of a fair trial are ignored in this case”, said Qurabi.


Qurabi said that the human rights organizations should work for exposing these violations so lest they become a status quo. He voiced his concern that these illegal actions may include human rights organizations and other Egyptian figures calling for a political reform.


The Muslim Brotherhood should end this political stagnation and contact human rights organizations to send envoys to monitor these military tribunals,” said Qurabi, adding that the moderate group should show more flexibility in dealing with these organizations.


Regarding Tuesday”s military court, the envoy of the Arab Committee for Human Rights said:” Everything happening in the court proves that the case against the MB leaders is politically motivated and isn”t based on any legitimate or constitutional bases. This raises a serious issue: that there is no separation between the executive authority and the judiciary in Egypt.


All these violations make us distrust the military judicial independence in Egypt. Dr. Ammar was prevented in three previous sessions from monitoring the military court against the Muslim Brotherhood leaders. The security authorities prevented him from attending the fifth, sixth and ninth sessions of the military court, the seventh in the Muslim Brotherhood”s history.


Although Qurabi was officially delegated by the Arab Committee for Human Rights and the UN High Commission for Human Rights, but he was denied access to these three sessions to monitor the trial. It is worth mentioning that the Arab Committee for Human Rights exerts huge efforts in order to monitor the Military Court against Muslim Brotherhood leaders.


Previous sessions witnessed attendance of Violet Dagher, the chairwoman of the Arab Committee for Human Rights, and Dr. Haitham Manaa, the committee”s spokesman, but they were denied access like Dr. Ammar Qurabi. All military court sessions have witnessed a heavy security presence to prevent human rights activists and international observers from monitoring the trials and to harass relatives of the MB reformists standing trial.