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Fifteen Muslim Brotherhood Members Given Jail Terms By Egypt's Military Court
by Peter King
HUCKSTEP, Egypt (AFP) - Egypt's high military court on Sunday condemned 15 members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood to between three and five years in prison for reviving the outlawed movement, the judge announced.
Five people were acquitted of the same charges while three were sentenced to five years and 12 got three years.
Former member of parliament Mukhtar Nuh was among those convicted in what he charged was "punishment" for the Brotherhood's success in parliamentary elections earlier this month during which they won 17 of the 454 seats.
The condemned were found guilty of belonging to an illegal group with the aim of "disturbing the social peace" as well as trying to "manipulate" trade unions and "instigate antagonism to the policies of the government."
The presiding judge at the court in Huckstep military base, around 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Cairo, said the convicted had also tried to enroll new members among student and worker circles.
The defendants, locked up in an iron cage, cried out in protest when the sentences were read, shouting: "God will bring us justice."
"We were expecting such a harsh verdict," Mukhtar Nuh told journalists later. "It's a punishment from the government to the Muslim Brotherhood for their success in the elections."
Despite its illegal status, the Brotherhood, which wants an Islamic state in Egypt, now holds the largest block of opposition seats in parliament.
Democracy activists have described their election gains as a "shock" for the government party, which nevertheless took 85% of the seats.
The main defense lawyer in the trial, Mohammed Tousson, told AFP after the trial that the sentences were "unjust" and branded the trial of civilians in a military court "uncivilized."
"From the very beginning this has been a political trial," he said.
President Hosni Mubarak provoked outrage from human rights groups and sparked student protests when he issued a decree last year ordering the civilians to be tried before the high military court.
Two representatives of the London-based Amnesty International (AI) human rights group as well as a diplomat from the U.S. embassy in Cairo and foreign journalists were not allowed to enter the courtroom.
AI's Carsten Jurgensen told AFP Sunday's sentences represented "another blow to freedom of expression in Egypt," complaining that the defendants should never have been tried for their non-violent political activities.
"It's really a scandal that violates the most basic international standards of fair trial," he said, referring to the fact that military court rulings cannot be appealed through the courts.
The 20 Muslim Brotherhood members were arrested in October 1999 marking the beginning of the largest crackdown in four years on the illegal, but partly tolerated, movement, which has an office in Cairo.
The three men sentenced to five years in prison were Mohammed Badie Sami - who had been acquitted of similar charges in a trial in 1995 - Saad Zaghlul al-Ashmawi and Ahmed al-Halawani.
The three were among those described on the charge sheet as leaders of the group. Sunday's verdict had been postponed three times since July.
Mukhtar Nuh, who got three years in jail, said the sentences had enabled the government and ruling party to "get rid of its strongest competitor" during upcoming elections to the Senate and the trade unions.
The Muslim Brotherhood has been traditionally active in the unions, including the Bar Association, which was frozen in January 1996 for "bad financial management."
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