Prosecution demands cancelling verdicts against 312 defendants

CAIRO – 9 January 2019: The Court of Cassation’s prosecution office recommended cancelling life imprisonment sentences against 312 defendants who allegedly participated in protests supporting Muslim Brotherhood regime in 2013, in the case known in media as “Al-Fath Mosque Incidents”.

The defendants are accused of desecrating, and destroying al-Fath mosque to cause chaos and vandalize public and private facilities;they are also charged with the acquisition of weapons.

The prosecution office said in its non-binding recommendation numerous reasons why the verdict should be cancelled, including the contradiction in reasoning and inference, and the violation of the right of defense.

The prosecution also argued that the court’s verdict does not clearly explain details about the persons accused of committing the mentioned crimes,who have been arrested, but only mentioned their number.

The appeals the 312 defendants submitted earlier will be reviewed on January 28.

On August 17, 2013, Egypt’s security forces had surrounded al-Fath mosque in downtown Cairo’s Ramses Square, inside which a few hundred supporters of Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated ousted President Mohamed Morsi, were protesting.

Late in 2017, Cairo Criminal Court has issued life imprisonment sentences to 43 persons accused in the case after the forces managed to disperse the Rabaa sit-in, while it acquitted 52 of the accused, including the Irish citizen Ibrahim Halawa and his three sisters of all charges.