April 6 Youth Movement leader Ahmed Maher has denounced military trials of civilians in Egypt's constitution, calling them "treason" on the part of the 50-person committee tasked with drafting a new document.
"Those who support military trials [of civilians] and forgot what happened in 2011 have sold their conscience and followed personal interests," Maher wrote on his Facebook account.
Maher withdrew from the Constituent Assembly re-drafting the 2012 Constitution in protest against the approval of military trials for civilians and bolstered presidential powers.
"The articles on military trials were one of the most important reasons for our opposition to the constitution of the Muslim Brotherhood," he argued. "Therefore the return of these articles, whatever the justification, is treason."
"We withdrew from the Constituent Assembly in 2012, and participated in demonstrations to reject the defective constitution…and to object to certain articles, that is why we will not allow them to exist in the constitution of 2013."
Maher warned that a constitution that does not reflect the revolution and its demands would face a similar fate to its predecessor.
"Reproducing the old regime is treason."
