CAIRO: No trial date has yet been set for the detainees in the Hezbollah cell case as investigative authorities continue to renew their detainment without announcing when the case will go to trial.
“There is a political angle which is why [no date has been set], the lawyer of some of the defendants Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud told Daily News Egypt Tuesday.
Forty-nine people, 22 of whom are in custody, are being charged with operating a cell in Egypt that was receiving its orders from Hezbollah. Though many had been detained since November 2008, the announcement of the cell was not made until four months later in February.
The detainees are currently sent to the Prosecutor General, sometimes on a daily basis, to renew their detention. Lawyers now have access to their defendants at the Prosecutor General’s office, which wasn’t the case during initial investigations according to Abdel-Maqsoud.
Investigations in the case have been concluded and all that is needed to go to trial is an announcement by the Prosecutor General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud of the list of charges to be brought against the detainees. Investigations were carried out by the State Security branch of the Ministry of Interior.
The state-run Al-Gomhuria newspaper had reported last month that the detainees would be referred to court within the week, which did not happen.
The case led to a war of words between Hezbollah and the Egyptian government, which was angered by the actions of the Lebanese Shia group. The state press followed suit, constantly attacking the group and its leader Hassan Nasrallah.
For its part, Hezbollah – and its leader – seem unrepentant about the whole affair, stating that it was a legitimate form of assistance to the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.
Relations were already strained between the group and Egypt after Nasrallah had severely criticized Egypt’s response to the Israeli offensive on Gaza last December, specifically its refusal to open the Rafah border crossing.
Torture allegations have surfaced regarding the detainees who have spent over five months in the custody of State Security. One detainee, Adel Ghareez, had alleged that he was tortured and the State Security Prosecutor Hisham Badawy had ordered that all detainees be examined by a forensic team to verify the claim.
The forensic team determined that it found no evidence that any of the detainees had been subjected to torture.
