Military trials threaten Egypt's democracy  An Egyptian army
general lectures anti-government demonstrators while touring
Tahrir Square on February 5, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt. The army had
been widely viewed as an ally of the revolution but that
perception quickly faded once the army took power.</p>    CAIRO
— Through three decades of iron-fisted rule, Hosni Mubarak
suspended the rights of 2,000 civilians and ordered them to face
military tribunals in a campaign to crush the Islamist
opposition that threatened his rule.   The military courts,
which were empowered by Egypt’s so-called Emergency Law, were
seen as a violation of the Egyptian constitution and of
international law and their use ignited a firestorm of criticism
by human rights activists around the world.   Now in the
aftermath of demonstrations against such human rights abuses
that led to the toppling of Mubarak in February, Egypt’s ruling
military council has hauled 12,000 civilians before similar
military tribunals — six times the number under Mubar