A Cairo criminal court has postponed the trial concerning the storming of the Al-Tebeen police station to 4 August. This comes as part of investigations into two cases related to the events following the dispersal of Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Al-Nahda Square sit-ins, which has been ongoing since December 2014.
The South Cairo Criminal Court, headed by Judge Mohamed Sherine Fahmy, is looking into the case of 47 defendants charged with storming the Al-Tebeen police station in Helwan. However, no ruling on the second case had been announced at the time of print on the other case.
The prosecution accused the defendants of attempted murder of a number of police officers, torching the police station, smuggling prisoners and illegal possession of melee weapons.
The incident occurred following the dispersal of the Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Al-Nahda Square sit-ins in August 2013.
Fahmy is also looking into the case of 104 defendants, known as the “events of Boulaq Abu El-Ela”. The defendants are charged with murder, joining an illegal group, use of force and violence, damaging public and private property and illegal possession of weapons and ammunition.
On Monday, the Giza Criminal Court postponed the Al-Nahda Square sit-in trial to 1 August. The case involves 379 defendants, out of whom 110 were present while the rest are being tried in absentia.
According to the witnesses, the defendants initiated the violence and resulted in the death of two police officers and the injury of 27 others.
The two sit-ins were established in support of former president Mohamed Morsi’s regime. Both sit-ins began days before the 30 June mass protests calling for Morsi’s ouster.
On 14 August, security personnel violently dispersed the sit-ins in an act which was condemned by rights groups including Human Rights Watch (HRW) who described the dispersal as a “crime against humanity” in a report published in August 2014.
Morsi’s ouster was followed by a crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood members and any affiliated groups across the nation. In December 2013, the group was deemed a “terrorist group”, and accordingly hundreds are being tried for their affiliation with the group.
The former president was handed a death sentence in June in the Prison Break trial alongside 106 Muslim Brotherhood leaders, including the Muslim Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie. The defendants were charged with breaking out of Wadi Al-Natrun prison in the events of the 25 January Revolution.
