739 defendants in ‘Rabaa Sit-in Dismantling’ prosecuted

CAIRO – 5 August 2017: Cairo Criminal Court held a trial session on Saturday as part of the ‘Rabaa Sit-in Dismantling’ lawsuit comprising 739 defendants including the Supreme Guide of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badie.

When the first eyewitness Major General Osama El Saghir, former head of Cairo Security Directorate, started to take the oath before delivering his testimony, an attorney requested changing the court’s panel.

Prosecution has been suspended till a decision is made upon the request of lawyer Mohamed El Gendy.

The defendants also include vice chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party Essam El Erian; Sadat’s assassin Essam Magued; the Brotherhood’s Mufti Abdel Rahman El Bor; former Minister of Youth Osama Yassin; vice chairman of Wasat Party Essam Soltan; Safwat Hegazi; Mohamed El Beltagy; Wagdy Ghoneim; Osama Mohamed Morsi; and press photographer Mohamed Shokan.

Public Prosecution’s arraignment included planning and participating in an armed crowd in Rbaa El Adaweya Square (currently Hisham Brakat Square), blocking roads, obstructing citizens’ movements, deliberate and premeditated killing of citizens and police forces entitled to dismantle the sit-in, initiating willful murder, and intentionally disrupting the motion of public transportation.