ASSOCIATED PRESS

CAIRO: Egypt’s military prosecution charged a prominent activist Sunday with slandering and inciting violence against the country’s ruling generals through social networking sites, lawyers said.
This is one of the most serious charges levied against activists who have played a key role in mobilizing hundreds of thousands of Egyptians to the protests which forced President Hosni Mubarak to step down 18 days later. It is also the strongest indication that the country’s military rulers for the last six months may be running out of patience with criticism.

Lawyer Ali Atef said the case of Asmaa Mahfouz, one of the faces of Egypt’s revolution, was “a warning” to other activists against criticizing the military. “It was a terrifying [interrogation] session,” Atef said.

“When people are slapped with these charges because they expressed their opinion, this is grave. It is a warning aimed at all activists, bloggers and ordinary people.”
Mahfouz was released Sunday on $3,400 bail after more than four hours of interrogation. Atef said activists collected money to pay the bail and ensure her release pending trial. The incitement charges could carry a sentence of more than 10 years.

A trial date is to the discretion of the military prosecutor.
Atef said the prosecutor cited as evidence Mahfouz’s writing on Facebook and Twitter and a call to a private television station in which she accused the country’s rulers of planning an attack on protesters. The lawyer said she was quoted as calling the military council as the “council of dogs.”

She is accused of inciting violence by criticizing on Twitter the slow procedure of trials, and warning that people may take justice into their own hands.
“Bottom line, if the judiciary doesn’t get us our rights, no one should be crossed if there are armed groups, who carry out assassinations, since there is no law and no judiciary. No one should be crossed,” Mahfouz wrote in an Aug. 10 tweet.

In the six months since Mubarak stepped down, many activists have grown critical of the military rulers because of the slow pace of change, including putting former regime officials on trial. Using military courts for civilians has also been a cause for concern among protesters.
Mubarak was replaced Feb. 11 by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, led by Mubarak’s longtime Defense Minister Marshall Hussein Tantawi.

The protesters held rallies and sit-ins directed at the military. Chants of “Down with the military rule,” were repeated during many rallies, and were soon replaced with “Down with the Marshall,” in reference to Tantawi. Bloggers organized a day of blogging against the military’s management of the country’s affairs.
Political cartoons against the military council have also sprung up. In one widely shared on social networking sites, the military council is portrayed as a guard dog protecting Tahrir Square from protesters.

After sending Mubarak to a criminal trial, the military forcefully broke down a sit-in that had been held at Tahrir Square for nearly a month. They had been demanding justice for the killing of nearly 900 protesters during the revolution.
Mubarak appeared in court on Aug. 3 and is scheduled to appear again Monday.