(AFP Photo)
The South Cairo Criminal court adjourned Wednesday the trial of 68 suspects over charges of establishing a terrorist organisation to 3 August.
Among the suspects is the brother of al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, jihadist Mohamed al-Zawahiri, who is a high-ranking member of Al-Salafeya Al-Jihadeya.
The court said the defendants face charges of “targeting and attacking state institutions, police and army forces, Christians, and endangering the national security”. The court added the defendants were arrested in various locations and found in possession of weapons, explosives, and maps of important public facilities across the country.
Al-Salafeya Al-Jihadeya offered military and ideological training to its members across the country to stop any opposition to former president Mohamed Morsi, state-run newspaper Al-Ahram reported.
Al-Zawahiri used the political changes in Egypt to resume his jihadist leadership activity, inside and outside the country, Al-Ahram said. He was arrested in Giza in August 2013 attempting to pass through a police checkpoint three days after the violent dispersal of the sit-ins at Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Nahda Squares.
Al-Zawahiri was acquitted by Morsi in 2012, along with several militant Islamist leaders, of terrorism charges.
