The Wednesday trial of ousted former president Mohamed Morsi for escaping Wadi El-Natrun Prison in January 2011 was postponed to 5 February, state media reported.
The defence repeated its request to the Cairo Criminal Court for the introduction of new defendants and questioned the possibility that “Israeli elements” committed these crimes to destabilise security.
Morsi and 130 other defendants are facing trial for escaping from Wadi El-Natrun Prison on 29 January 2011, during the 25 January Revolution.
Several of Morsi’s co-defendants in the case include Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, controversial preacher Safwat Hegazy, and some of the leaders of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) Saad Al-Katatni, Mohamed Beltagy and Essam El-Erian.
Along with escaping from prison, the defendants also stand accused of damaging and setting fire to prison buildings, murder, attempted murder, and looting prison weapons at three separate Egyptian prisons.
According to prosecution investigations, the prison break allegedly occurred when 800 heavily armed foreigners affiliated with Hamas and Hezbollah entered Egypt from Gaza through tunnels. The group was later divided to three fragments to attack three prisons: Wadi El-Natrun Prison in Beheira governorate and Abou Zaabal and Al-Marg Prisons in Cairo. In addition to killing over 50 policemen and prisoners and freeing another 20,000 prisoners, the defendants are also accused of vandalising and stealing police cars and equipment.
Morsi is a co-defendant in three other trials: inciting the killing of protestors during deadly clashes outside the presidential palace in December 2012; insulting the judiciary; and for espionage for working with foreign Islamist groups to “create chaos” in Egypt.
Morsi had previously criticised the court as “lacking jurisdiction and authority”.
