(AFP PHOTO)
The trial of 48 Muslim Brotherhood defendants including Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie was postponed on Wednesday, after the defendants were not brought to court.
State-run Al-Ahram cited security reasons for not bringing the defendants to court.
Badie’s lawyer Mohamed al-Damati said the court has not yet set the date for the next session.
The defendants face charges of blocking traffic, damaging public and private property, possession of illegal weapons, and attacking and terrorising citizens to threaten national peace and spread chaos during July protests in the city of Qaliub, located on the northern edge of the Cairo metropolitan area, according to state-run Al-Ahram.
Badie is the defendant in a number of other ongoing trials, including an indictment for killing protesters on 30 June and 1 July during deadly clashes outside the Muslim Brotherhood’s headquarters in Cairo’s Moqattam neighbourhood.
Badie is also a co-defendant in two trials that include deposed president Mohamed Morsi. Badie, Morsi and 34 other Muslim Brotherhood leaders are charged with spying for the International Organization of the Muslim Brotherhood and its armed wing from 2005 to 2013 by revealing classified information. They also face charges, along with 129 defendants, for escaping from Wadi El-Natrun Prison on 28 January 2011.
