The military public prosecution heard three high profile cases on Sunday at its Cairo headquarters.
The prosecution office renewed the detention of prominent activist Alaa Abdel Fattah for 15 days, during the investigation of charges relating to the 9 October attack on Coptic protesters by the army that resulted in the death of 28 and left over 300 wounded.
Abdel Fattah and another activist, Bahaa Saber, were summoned for questioning on 30 October. While Saber was released, Abdel Fattah was remanded into custody after he refused to answer the military prosecutor’s questions, in protest of military trials for civilian defendants and army investigation of a crime of which it is itself involved.
Abdel Fattah has been strongly critical of the Egyptian army since it assumed power in February. Charges of stealing an army weapon, vandalizing armed forces’ property, assault of army officers and use of violence against the armed forces have been condemned as politically motivated.
Abdel Fatah’s sister, Mona Seif, an activist, initially reported on Twitter that the theft charge had been dropped, but later said that according to lawyers, Khaled Ali and Ahmed Seif, the judge hearing the case had missed the charge because he forgot to turn over a page in the case file.
The renewal means that Abdel Fatah will likely miss the birth of his first son, due later this month, friends and relatives say.
The continuing appeal by Mikel Nabil, a blogger accused of insulting the military, of the three-year prison sentence handed down to him by a military court in March of this year was renewed until 27 November.
According to the Free Mikel Nabil Sanad group on Facebook, the case was adjourned because Nabil’s court appointed lawyer requested a report from internet provider TE Data and military intelligence about his blog.
Nabil has been on hunger strike for more than two months.
A group of 13 activists from Alexandria, who were arrested outside a Ministry of Defense building in Alexandria on 30 September, were acquitted of all charges against them.
