Court resumes hearing on ‘Rabaa sit-in Dispersal’ case

CAIRO – 3 March 2018: The Criminal Court of Cairo resumed on Saturday the hearing on the case that is publicly known as “Rabaa sit-in dispersal”, which involves the prosecution of senior Muslim Brotherhood leaders, including the Brotherhood’s top guide Mohammed Badie amongst others.

The defendants are charged with staging an armed gathering in Rabaa square, illegally possessing and handling weapons, blocking driveways, deliberately vandalizing public property, along with other counts relating to murdering policemen and citizens.

Amongst the defendants awaiting Saturday’s trails are members of the top guidance bureau Essam el-Erian, Safwat Hegazy, Mohamed el Beltagy, Usama Yassin, and former president Mohamed Morsi, Essam Maged, Abdel Rahman al-Barr, Safwat Hegazy, Mohamed el-Beltagy, Usama Yassin, Issam Sultan, Basem Odeh, Wagdy Ghoneim, and photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zaid (Shawkan) who was on assignment for UK-led Demotix.

During the case’s hearing session held in late October, Shawkan said that he was only doing his job as a press photographer and that he was among other photographers who were called on by the government to cover the events of the Rabaa sit-in dispersal.

On August 14, 2013, Security Forces set out to disperse the Muslim Brotherhood sit-in in Nasr City’s Rabaa al-Adawiya, along with another sit-in located in Nahda Square, Giza.