Morsi espionage trial postponed after defense team withdrawal
The first trial in Egyptian history accusing a former president of espionage began on Sunday.
Former President Mohamed Morsi arrived to the Police Academy on the outskirts of Cairo on Sunday morning to attend the first session of his trial for espionage charges, along with other Muslim Brotherhood leaders, including incarcerated Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and his deputies Khairat al-Shater and Mahmoud Ezzat.
Morsi, along with 35 other defendants, faces charges of conspiring with foreign organizations to carry out terrorist acts in the country, revealing military secrets to foreign countries, conducting military training that aims to achieve the goals of the international Muslim Brotherhood organization, and committing acts that jeopardize the independence, unity and security of the nation.
The investigations concluded that the Muslim Brotherhood carried out terrorist acts in Egypt that aim to spread chaos, in collaboration with the Islamic Hamas Movement in Gaza, the Lebanese Hezbollah and other groups.
The court postponed Morsi's espionage trial to February 23 in order to allocate 10 lawyers for the defendants after the defense team withdrew from the session to protest the glass cage surrounding the defendants, state-owned Al Ahram newspaper reports.
The session witnessed a number of arguments between the court and the defense team, who maintained that the glass cage kept the defendants from following the trial. It was recently decided to contain the former President in a glass cage during all his court appearances after his outburst during another trial session.
State-owned EgyNews portal reports that Morsi was still able to make himself heard and yelled to his defense team, led by Selim al-Awa, to withdraw from the session if the court insists on isolating the defendants.
The former president reportedly said that the people want to have contact with their president and that the court is isolating him out of fear. The defense team responded to Morsi's speech by clapping while the other defendants created a commotion by banging on the glass cage.
Morsi also faces charges related to prison escapes and bloody clashes between his supporters and protesters that broke out outside the presidential palace in December 2012.
Since the removal of the former president in July, the Muslim Brotherhood has been largely blamed for an increase in terrorist attacks in Sinai as well as other parts of the country.
The Middle East News Agency reported that the surroundings of the police academy remain calm as the session proceeds in the absence of protesters.
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