Egypt: 7,000 Civilians Jailed Since Mubarak’s Ouster

Military Promises to Review Jailings in Future

Egypt’s increasingly less-than-interim military junta has confirmed today that it has imprisoned at least 7,000 civilians since it took power in early February. All of those were sentenced by military courts under the nation’s martial law.

The confirmation came after requests from human rights groups related to the large numbers of summary detentions being reported. Though they confirmed the detentions they insisted they would review them in the future.

One of the groups, “No to Military Trials” has been given permission to meet with the junta’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces related to the jailings. Leadership of the group says that promises of reviews have come in the past without results and that the jailings by military trial must be stopped.

The group also demanded a full list of all of the civilians current held by the military and what their charges are. Some reports indicate that people jailed under military prosecutions in 1992 also remain in custody.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.