By Mohammad Baali
Albawaba.com - Cairo
A lawyer for the editor of Egypt’s An Nabaa tabloid, which earlier became embroiled in a headline sex scandal involving a former Coptic monk, on Monday challenged the legality of trying his client in the state security court.
The defendant, Mamdouh Mahran, drew the wrath of authorities for publishing an article depicting the sexual antics of a former Coptic monk, which sparked violent protests in the minority Christian community.
Observers say the key issue underlying the trial is the uneasy state of relations between Muslims and Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority, who make up about 10 percent of the population.
The government is keen to avoid the riots and massacres that have in some instances followed frictions between the two communities.
Nabih Al Wahsh, a member of the committee defending Mahran, told Albawaba.com that his group had presented a detailed memorandum to the court asserting that a 1981 resolution regarding a state of emergency in Egypt, which permits the trial of citizens before emergency courts, was unconstitutional.
Wahsh said that first of all, the length of time the resolution was to be in effect was not defined when it was issued.
He also pointed out that the resolution was not approved by two-thirds of Parliament at the time, adding that MPs at that time had restricted the application of the resolution to terrorism and drug cases.
However, hundreds of members of Islamist groups have also been tried before emergency and military courts over the past few years.
The lawyers’ document, a copy of which obtained by Albawaba.com, pointed out that the crimes for which Mahran is being tried should be based on clauses of the Egyptian Penal Code that are considered ordinary crimes.
Mahran’s legal counsels said that referring him to an emergency courts constituted a violation of the Constitution, which declares all citizens equal and gives them the right to stand trial before the appropriate judge.
“If the court accepts this challenge, we will lay a legal foundation in Egypt from which hundreds of people being tried before emergency courts will benefit,” Wahsh said.
