An Egyptian court on Saturday postponed to 5 July the trial of ousted president Mohamed Morsi on charges of escaping from prison in 2011, a judicial source told Ahram Online.
Morsi and 130 co-defendants face charges of damaging and setting fire to prison buildings, murder and attempted murder, and looting prison weapons depots while allowing prisoners from the “Hamas movement, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, jihadists, Brotherhood [members] and other criminals” to break out of jails.
The charges are linked to the escape of more than 20,000 inmates from three Egyptian prisons during the early days of the 2011 popular uprising. Prosecutors said over 800 fighters from Gaza had infiltrated Egypt, using RPGs and heavy armaments to storm three prisons, abducting four policemen and killing several other policemen and inmates.
The case is part of an ongoing state crackdown on Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood group and the movement’s supporters.
Morsi and much of the group’s leadership are in jail facing trial on a myriad of charges that could carry the death sentence. Mohamed Badei, the Brotherhood’s spiritual leader, has already been sentenced to death along with 182 of other Islamists on murder charges. The verdict was confirmed by a Cairo court last week but may yet be appealed.
Others accused in the prison break case include senior Brotherhood leaders Mohamed Saad El-Katatni, Essam El-Erian, Mohamed El-Beltagy, and pro-Brotherhood preacher Safwat Hegazy.
Source : Ahram online
