All 379 defendants on trial in relation to the Mohamed Mahmoud Street clashes have been granted amnesty and are expected to be acquitted, except for one man, Ahmed Sayed Al-Dardiri.
The third session of the trial resumed on Saturday, when the judge handling the case received a list of all those granted amnesty. All the defendants in the trial were released last November, shortly after being detained.
President Mohamed Morsy announced a law in October granting amnesty to all those held or imprisoned for committing crimes or felonies in support of the revolution. The names of all those granted amnesty were revealed two weeks ago by the public and military prosecutors.
The verdict was postponed until 15 December, when 378 defendants are expected to be officially granted the amnesty.
“Only Al-Dardiri was not included on the amnesty list,” said Aly Diab, lawyer at the Front for Defending Egypt’s Protesters (FDEP). Diab said Al-Dardiri was in possession of a drug, Tramadol, upon his arrest during the clashes last November.
“According to Morsy’s law, the amnesty doesn’t include those who were in possession of any drug,” Diab said.
Al-Dardiri didn’t attend Saturday’s trial and neither did his lawyer. Diab stated that the FDEP has had no contact with him whatsoever since his arrest last November.
“Since the arrests are random during such clashes, some of those arrested put the whole matter behind them upon their release,” Diab said, in anticipation of the probable cause behind Al-Dardiri’s disappearance. “Some defendants are more aware than others of the process.”
Diab said that none of the lawyers who attended Saturday’s trial could defend Al-Dardiri due to his absence. Should he attend the next session, Diab said the lawyers would do their best to grant him amnesty.
The defendants who did attend Saturday’s session were rather disappointed upon the judge’s postponement.
“We were supposed to receive our amnesty today,” Mohamed Araby Abdel Wahed, one detainee, said, “I’m tired of this story; I want to get it over with.”
Abdel Wahed was arrested late November last year following the Mohamed Mahmoud street clashes. He remained in detention for three days.
“They released me after my family lobbied the prosecution,” Abdel Wahed said, adding that police took his fingerprints before his release. “I thought it was all over until I was summoned to court last June.”
The 379 defendants on trial are accused of assaulting policemen and their involvement in the Mohamed Mahmoud clashes on 19 November 2011. The clashes started when a sit-in was attacked by security forces near Tahrir Square.
Serious clashes between protesters and the police left dozens of protesters killed and more injured. Most of the clashes, which continued until 24 November, occurred in Mohamed Mahmoud street.
