A trial has started in the United Arab Emirates for thirty Islamic extremists accused of setting up an illegal arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The defendants all claimed innocence and said they were victims of torture in prison.
Twenty of the defendants are Egyptian nationals including three doctors. Six Egyptians are being tried in absentia as part of the trial. All are accused of being part of the Islamist political society al-Islah, which prosecutors say is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
This is the second trial of Islamists connected to the establishment of an illegal Brotherhood branch. In July, 69 Islamists were convicted for their connections to the group and were sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
The trial of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Morsi began in Egypt with court disruptions, tension and a defiant defendant.
Morsi and 14 senior members of the outlawed Islamist Muslim Brotherhood were brought into the court to be formally charged with incitement of violence and murder. All defendants are facing the death penalty.
Morsi defied the judge by wearing a blue suit into court instead of the mandated prison clothes. He also challenged the court’s authority saying that he was the legitimate president of the country and those who removed him should be the ones on trial.
Presiding judge Ahmed Sabry Youssef adjourned the hearing because the defendants refused to stop chanting. He gave the defense lawyers until January 8th to review documents from the case.
The hearing was the first public appearance of Morsi since his removal from power on July 3rd.
Egyptian authorities Wednesday captured a fugitive Muslim Brotherhood leader.
Police arrested Essam al-Erian, vice chairman of the Brotherhood’s political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, at an apartment in the New Cairo area.
The arrest is the latest move by the government to crack down on the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist extremism in Egypt. Officials plan to put Erian on trial next week beside former President Mohammed Morsi.
“You can’t escape your destiny,” Erian said to reporters when he was arrested. “I am confident I will be out of prison after putting an end to the coup.”
The trial of Morsi and his compatriots is scheduled to begin on November 4th but Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood announced they reject the authority of the courts. Several judges have already stepped down from Brotherhood trials claiming “reasons of conscience.”
Police broke up a student protest supporting ousted Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Morsi.
The interior ministry told the BBC they were responding to a request from university authorities for help in containing the protest. The pro-Morsi students had been holding protests for weeks.
The move against the students came hours after the arrest of Essam al-Erian, the vice chairman of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party.
The students reportedly invaded the university’s offices and ransacked them before the police arrived at the campus. Photos on social media showed graffiti and damage to the university’s offices.
Three judges have stepped down from the trial of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie and his two aides.
Judge Mohammed Fahmy al-Qarmuty said he and his two colleagues were suffering from “reasons of conscience” and had to withdraw from the proceedings. The withdrawl of the judges brings the prosecution of the men to a complete stop.
Badie and his associates are being charged with inciting violence and murder connected to the protests after the removal of Morsi. Badie was arrested in August after the deaths of protesters outside the Brotherhood’s headquarters on June 30th.
The announcement comes less than a week before the scheduled opening of the trial of former President Mohammed Morsi.
Egyptian state media is reporting that Muslim Brotherhood leader and former President Mohammed Morsi will be going to trial on November 4th.
Morsi will be standing trial with 14 other senior leaders of the Brotherhood according to the reports. Morsi has been held at a secret location by government troops since being removed from power on July 3rd.
Morsi will be facing charges related to the deaths of at least seven people during clashes between opposition protesters and Muslim Brotherhood supporters.
Muslim Brotherhood supporters have been launching protests nationwide. Over 50 supporters were killed in clashes with government troops over the weekend.
Clashes between police and Muslim Brotherhood extremists have left at least 44 people dead and hundreds injured.
Officials said at least 200 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood have been arrested for their parts in the violent protests.
The government had been trying to hold events for the 40th anniversary of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Hundreds gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square for a ceremony that included flyovers from jets and Apache helicopters.
That’s when the Brotherhood supporters took to the street to protest the government’s banning of their organization and continuing to complain about the removal of their leaders from positions of governmental power.
Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi spoke on state TV to urge citizens to “stand together, be optimistic about the future” as the country approached a “critical time.”
Egyptian officials said that an appeals court has ruled the banning of the Muslim Brotherhood legal and now the government is moving to seize the group’s assets.
The government also plans to ban or take over all social services the group runs including hospitals, schools and charitable organizations. A spokesman for the Minister of Social Solidarity has said the cabinet is forming a committee to investigate the sources of Brotherhood funds and how to take over assets.
Hani Mahanna, the Minister’s spokesman, said that if any charities can be shown to have connections to the Brotherhood, that charity’s assets would also be seized.
Brotherhood supporters say they will continue to take to the streets in protest of the government’s removal of their leaders from positions of power.
Most Muslim Brotherhood leaders are in jail and former President Mohammed Morsi has not been seen in public since being removed from power in July.
An Egyptian court has ruled that the Muslim Brotherhood is banned from operating within the country.
The decision by the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters applied the ruling to the Islamist group, its non-governmental organization and any group that claims to be affiliated with the Islamist organization. Continue reading →
An Egyptian court on Monday ordered the Muslim Brotherhood to be banned and its assets confiscated in a dramatic escalation of a crackdown by the military-backed government against supporters of the ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi. Continue reading →
