An Egyptian military tribunal sentenced five workers on Monday to suspended jail terms for assaulting an arms factory manager, despite appeals by rights groups that they be tried in a civil court, their lawyer said.
The workers, who were also accused of vandalism, were given suspended prison sentences of between six months and one year, and were each also ordered to pay a 1,000-pound (180-dollar) fine, Haitham Mohammadin said.
Three other workers were acquitted of any wrongdoing in connection with the case, he added.
The verdict comes days after rights watchdog Amnesty International urged Egypt not to try the eight workers before a military court, saying sentences handed by such courts “flout international standards of fair trial.”
“Trials of civilians before military courts, whose judges are serving members of the military, flout international standards of fair trial and are inherently unjust,” Amnesty said in a statement on Friday.
The workers, all civilians, were accused of vandalism and assault during an impromptu demonstration at the government-run factory south of Cairo earlier this month after a colleague was killed in a gas explosion.
They were also charged with stopping production, and one was accused of imparting military secrets after he allegedly told an opposition website that the factory was unsafe.
Amnesty said the trial of the workers was the first since the country’s military justice law was amended in June, giving the military more powers over civilians working at its installations.
Egyptian rights activists say it is the first time workers have faced a military trial since the 1950s, despite several strikes in military factories in the 1990s.
The country has seen a wave of labour unrest in the past few years, coinciding with economic reforms that have been praised by foreign investors but also criticised for further impoverishing the poor.