Anti-Mubarak activist faces trial for defamation

CAIRO. - Asma Mahfuz, an activist and blogger involved in the uprising earlier this year that toppled presi¬dent Hosni Mubarak, will be tried by a military court for defamation, a judicial source said. Mahfuz was questioned Sunday for “speaking inappropriately about the military council and for using defamatory and offensive insults against the council on Facebook and Twitter,” the official MENA news agency had reported.

She will be notified about the date of the trial, the source added. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has ruled Egypt since the fall of Mubarak on 11 February. Mahfuz was released on bail of US$3 300, but the investigation against her continues. The military council has come under much criticism from pro-democracy activists in Egypt, who suspect it will delay a transition to civilian government. It has also been criticised for summoning journalists over their reporting and arresting them during protests.

Mahfuz was a co-founder of the 6 April youth movement which had called for the 25 January street pro¬tests that led to the ousting of Muba¬rak 18 days later, ending his 30 years of autocratic rule.