The Giza Criminal Court postponed to 1 August the trial of 379 alleged Muslim Brotherhood defendants accused of committing violence,.
Monday’s session was the first in the case after two years following the events at the Al-Nahda Square sit-in in Giza in August 2013. Out of the 379 defendants, 110 attended the session, while the rest are being tried in absentia.
They are charged with resisting police officers, rioting and destroying public properties, endangering the lives of others, as well as illegally occupying buildings.
According to investigations by the public prosecution, 72 witnesses testified that the sit-in that called for the reinstatement of ousted president Mohamed Morsi was not peaceful and that the defendants were armed. The witnesses claim that that the protesters initiated the violence during its dispersal by security forces, which resulted in the deaths of two police officers and the injury of 27 others.
The prosecution also claims that the defendants have confessed to some of the protesters being armed and did not heed the police warnings to clear the area peacefully. This then meant that the forced clearance only came after all efforts to peacefully clear the armed protest were exhausted. A total of 178 of the 379 have also allegedly confessed to belonging to the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Days before the planned 30 June mass protests which called for the ouster of Morsi, thousands of pro-Morsi demonstrators began filling Al-Nahda Square in front of Cairo University. A similar sit-in took place in Rabaa Al-Adaweya Square. Both sit-ins were dispersed, leaving hundreds dead.
A 2014 Human Rights Watch report said that between 800 and 1,000 people were killed, and described the dispersal as a pre-meditated “massacre” by the ruling military administration of the time.
Prior to the violence, interim president Adly Mansour addressed supporters of former president Mohamed Morsi, assuring they would not be pursued if they leave the squares where they are encamped.
Egyptian media and government officials increasingly framed the clashes between security forces and protesters as “fights against terrorism”. They highlighted reports that protesters were armed and used violence, which have lead to President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi asking the public for a mandate to fight terrorism on 24 July.
