Egypt police beat students at military trials protest
CAIRO (AFP) — Baton-wielding Egyptian riot police clashed on Wednesday with hundreds of students from the Muslim Brotherhood at Cairo University who were protesting against civilians being tried by military courts.
"About 500 people were demonstrating and the police began to beat us up," Ahmed Ali, a student affiliated with the opposition movement told AFP by telephone.
"Five students were lightly injured in the clashes," he said.
A security official said the number of protesters reached 2,000 at its heigh, adding that "another 2,000 demonstrated at Al-Azhar University demanding an end to the trial of civilians in military courts."
Hundreds of black-clad riot police surrounded the university campuses in downtown Cairo even after the demonstrations were over.
The Muslim Brotherhood students had organised the protests at Cairo and Al-Azhar universities to protest the use of military trials for civilians after 25 members of the group were sentenced Tuesday to up to 10 years behind bars.
The Brotherhood's number three Khayrat al-Shater and fellow leader Hassan Malek were jailed for seven years while five others were sentenced in absentia to 10 years in a crackdown which targeted the group's funding, freezing its assets and arresting prominent businessmen associated with the movement.
The 18 others were jailed for between three and five years, including another two in absentia, following a repeatedly delayed verdict that has no right of appeal because it is issued by a military tribunal.
Egyptian authorities accuse the Muslim Brotherhood, which controls a fifth of the seats in parliament, of seeking to revive its underground military wing and of eventually trying to topple the regime.
The fact that the case was tried in a military court has fed accusations that the politically charged trial is part of a broader policy of silencing the powerful group.
"The sentences handed down against 25 members of the Muslim Brotherhood today are a subversion of justice in Egypt," Amnesty International spokeswoman Nicole Choueiry told AFP from London.
"This trial has been clearly politically motivated from the outset."
