Burgess COMMENTARY
Maikel Nabil, an Egyptian blogger was found guilty of insulting the military and spreading false news. This may be just the tip of a much bigger problem. Several thousand people are in custody after the protests of the past two months.

Democracy is not easy ... and a free society is not easy to control ... which is the essence of freedom and a vibrant democracy.

It is impossible to get a perfect democracy ... it is a long and arduous process ... and should likely look different depending on the underlying culture and history of the society. The change from an autocratic President Mubarak to government by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) is a step ... but only a small one with very many more to go. It is going to be a long hard road ... but freedom and a working democracy are laudable goals with huge value.
Peter Burgess

Maikel Nabil found guilty of insulting the military and spreading false news.

Mubarak's ouster, it was thought, would usher in a new era of freedom of expression [AFP] However, an Egyptian military court has jailed a blogger for three years for criticising the armed forces, ruling the country since president Hosni Mubarak''s ouster in February.

'Regrettably, the Nasr City military court sentenced Maikel Nabil to three years in prison,' Gamal Eid, Nabil''s lawyer, told the AFP news agency on Monday.

'The lawyers were not present, the verdict was handed out almost in secret,' he said.

Nabil was found guilty of 'insulting the military' and of publishing false news.

His lawyers said they would appeal the ruling.

The verdict is likely to cause concern among Egypt's large network of bloggers who had hoped the overthrow of Mubarak in a popular uprising would usher in a new era of freedom of expression.

'Dangerous precedent'

Human Rights Watch (HRW) last week had called for the charges to be dropped.

It said Egypt's armed forces 'should drop all charges against (Nabil) for his Internet posts critical of the military'.

'This trial sets a dangerous precedent at a time when Egypt is trying to transition away from the abuses of the Mubarak era,' Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East and North Africa director, said.

This is the first trial of a blogger by a military court since the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces assumed control after Mubarak resigned on February 11 following 18 straight days of anti-regime protests.

Military police arrested Nabil, a campaigner against conscription, on March 28 after he wrote blogs criticising the military, HRW said.

His posts and comments on social networking website Facebook were used as evidence against him in the trial, HRW quoted his lawyers as saying.

Last year, a military court sentenced another blogger to six months in prison for publishing 'military secrets' after he posted instructions on Facebook on how to enlist in the armed forces, his lawyers said at the time.

Another blogger was acquitted after he published a post on alleged patronage in a military academy.

The military, which has pledged to hand power to a civilian government once parliamentary and presidential elections are held, has tried and sentenced dozens of people in recent weeks for crimes such as robbery and assault.

The trials are speedy and can result in harsh sentences, rights groups say.