Morsi's retrial in prison break case adjourned to August 30

CAIRO – 26 August 2017: The Cairo Criminal Court decided Saturday to adjourn the retrial of former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, alongside 27 others, to August 30, where the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated president faces charges of assaulting security and police facilities in the case related to mass jail breaks in 2011.

The court also took the decision to consider the witness of General Shawqi Mahmoud Al-Shazly, as well as signing a medical disclosure for a number of defendants.

The incidents of the case date back to 2011 during the January 25 Revolution, when Morsi escaped from Wadi al-Natroun prison and participated in the assaulting of security forces and the prison’s facilities. The prosecution charged the convicts with conspiring with the political bureau of Hamas, the leaders of the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Lebanese Hezbollah against the state in order to spread chaos across the nation.

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.

In June 2015, the Cairo Criminal Court issued a death sentence in the case against Morsi, MB supreme guide Mohamad Badie and other key figures of the terrorist group.

In November 2016, the Court of Cassation annulled the sentence and ordered a retrial of the defendants.