Activists seek an end to military prosecution

Cairo: It was late February in 2011, and former President Hosni Mubarak had stepped down just two weeks before. But Egyptians were still protesting, demanding that the Mubarak-appointed cabinet also step down. After a peaceful protest on February 26, army soldiers violently dispersed the demonstrators.

One of the unlucky ones was Amr Al Beheiry. Witnesses say a group of soldiers beat him viciously before he was arrested. Days later, in a five-minute military tribunal, he was convicted of assaulting a public official and breaking curfew, and sentenced to five years in prison.

Al Beheiry's case was the first glimpse into what has turned out to be one of the military's most extensive abuses of power. Since January 2011, the military has tried more than 12,000 Egyptian civilians like Al Beheiry in military tribunals that deny basic rights of due process.

Angered by what they found was going on in military prisons, a small group came together to fight it, and secured Al Beheiry's release.

A year after, ‘No Military Trials for Civilians' was launched. The group has succeeded in bringing pressure to bear on the military, to the extent that Egypt's military rulers have promised to end or limit the practice.

— Christian Science Monitor