The three activists accused of attacking the President of the Judges’ Club, Ahmed Al-Zind, were released on bail Monday.
The Cairo Criminal Court ordered the release of the defendants on a bail of EGP 5,000 each. South Cairo Primary Court chairman Hani Abbas mandated Judge Mohamed El-Shahed on Sunday to investigate the charges after the previous investigative judge was recused.
The defendant’s lawyers demanded the previous judge be removed from the investigation, claiming he refused to listen to the testimony of witnesses from their side, allowing only testimonies from Al-Zind’s side, without informing the defence.
Seif Al-Islam Hammad, one of the defence lawyers claimed that the investigation lacked neutrality.
“We asked the judge to postpone the investigation until the defendants’ exams are over,” Hammad said. The three defendants are all university students, who have to stand for final examinations in the near future.
A primary session was scheduled by the new judge for Wednesday. The defendants are not obliged to attend Wednesday’s session, Hammad said. “During the hearing, the judge is expected to see the defendants’ exam schedules and set the dates for the investigation accordingly.”
Al-Zind was attacked last week on his way out of the Judges’ Club after a meeting to discuss the prosecutor general’s decision to rescind his resignation.
On his way out of the meeting, around a dozen people, three of which were arrested, assaulted Al-Zind. They threw rocks at him when he was trying to get into his car, leaving Al-Zind with an injury under his left eye. He was taken to a hospital and kept under observation.
The defendants claimed they did not attack Al-Zind. They also admitted there were originally five of them chanting against Al-Zind outside the Judges’ Club accusing him of pretending to be a revolutionary while in fact being a supporter of former President Hosni Mubarak.
The defendants claimed they were tortured when a group of judges apprehended them after being arrested. One claimed Al-Zind pistol-whipped him while another claimed to have been electrocuted.
