The military court in Suez on Tuesday set the 17 September for the trial of eight leaders from the Jama'a al-Islamiya and the Muslim Brotherhood on charges of assaulting army forces in Suez, burning army vehicles and inciting two church burnings on 14 August, Turkish Anadolu news agency reported.
Ashraf Tawfiq, lawyer for the Jama'a al-Islamiya and supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsy in Suez, said he was informed of the date of the trial of the eight leaders who include Ahmed al-Shazly, a member of the administrative office of the Brotherhood, Kamel Teleiba, a Salafi leader, and Fawzy al-Kordy, a leader from the Jama'a al-Islamiya.
Tawfiq said this would be the second trial of supporters of Morsy before the military court in Suez after the military court last week handed Morsy supporters prison sentences ranging from five to 25 years and acquitted others.
On Tuesday, the criminal court in Suez gave 63 Morsy supporters varying prison sentences. Twelve were acquitted, one was sentenced to life, three were given 15 years of rigorous imprisonment and 48 were handed prison sentences ranging from five to 10 years. The defendants faced charges of burning army vehicles and churches and inciting violence and killing during protests that erupted following Morsy’s ouster from power.
The Tuesday trial was the first set of sentences to be issued by military courts since the ouster of Morsy in July and the first set of military sentences against Brotherhood members since 2008.
Article 198 of the suspended constitution states that “civilians may not be tried before the military judiciary except in crimes that harm the Armed Forces and the law determines those crimes and the other areas of jurisdiction of the military judiciary." This article was used to make legislation for the military judiciary.
Helmy Morsy, a lawyer for a number of Morsy supporters, said he has submitted a request to the leader of the Third Field Army to reduce the sentences or suspend them, adding that other lawyers have submitted similar requests.
He also said that if the Third Field army leader rejects the request then they will challenge the rulings issued before the court.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
