The trial of 10 Alexandria lawyers and activists, including prominent lawyer and activist Mahienour El-Massry, was postponed on Monday to 16 June.
The incident for which the defendants are being tried dates back to March 2013, when three members of the Al-Dostour Party were “assaulted by members of the Muslim Brotherhood”, said Mohamed Ramadan, a lawyer representing the defendants and a witness to the incident.
The event took place during the tenure of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Al-Dostour Party was one of the former president’s fiercest opposition parties.
Ramadan said that the Brotherhood members took the Al-Dostour Party members to a police station, where they were joined by several lawyers, including Ramadan.
Ramadan said that while trying to enter the police station, he “was beaten”.
Later, Ramadan and a group of 12 other lawyers and activists showing solidarity with him held a sit-in demanding an apology. Eventually, all those in the sit in were beaten, Ramadan said.
The 13 lawyers are facing two separate trials. Ramadan and two others face one trial, for which the date has not yet been set, and the other 10, which include El-Massry, are facing another trial.
Charges against the 10 include injuring police personnel, disrupting work inside the police station and causing damage to the police station, Ramadan said.
El-Massry faces another trial and will appear in court once more on Tuesday in the first session of contesting a verdict issued against her in absentia. El-Massry had been sentenced in absentia to two years and an EGP 50,000 fine for violating the Protest Law in December. She was arrested on 11 April but her release was ordered the next day.
