The Cairo Appeals Court adjourned on Saturday the trial of former president Mohamed Morsi and 24 other defendants to 14 January in the “insulting the judiciary” case. The case includes some of Morsi’s political opponents and some supporters.
The defendants are facing charges of inciting demonstrations, toppling the state using Twitter accounts, and defamation through the usage of communication tools.
The case includes political activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, journalist Abdel Haleem Andeel, and political figures including Amr Hamzawy and Mostafa Al-Naggar.
According to Egypt’s penal code, insulting judiciary charges are included under the provision of “assault on public officials while doing their jobs”. The penalty ranges from six months to one year in prison and a fine between EGP 200 and EGP 500.
Morsi is being tried in several other cases, including espionage. He was granted retrials in other cases including the jailbreak case. He had been found guilty in the jailbreak case in June 2015 and received a death sentence, but the court revoked the verdict.
Morsi was the first democratically-elected president to Egypt in 2012; he was ousted by the Armed Forces following mass protests of 30 June 2013 that opposed his ruling. The ousting decision strained the relations between Egypt and other countries including Turkey and the US which described the events that transpired as a “military coup”.
