Prosecution shows irrelevant videos in Shura Council case

Defense Lawyer Khaled Ali accused the Interior Ministry of forging videos shown in court on Monday during the trial of 20 defendants in the “Shura Council” case.

According to Mohamed Hafez, the prosecution showed videos of old events that occurred in front of the Journalists Syndicate, rather than the Shura Council. Ali was able to prove that the videos were copied onto a CD on November 2, 2013, Hafez said on his Facebook account.

The protest that the defendants, which include activist Alaa Abd El Fattah, are being tried for took place on November 26, 2013. They face charges of organizing an unauthorized protest outside the Shura Council, attacking a police officer, stealing a walkie-talkie, hooliganism, aggression against police officers, blocking the road, crowding a public place and the destruction of public property.

Ali demanded that the CDs be confiscated and that the matter be investigated.

Other footage was shown in court from CBC2, which was proven to have been copied onto a CD in 2005, and which show scenes from Talaat Harb Square, Hafez said.

The prosecution eventually showed relevant footage of the protest taken in front of the Shura Council. However, according to the Freedom to the Brave Facebook page, defense lawyers argued that the videos from the protest do not show the protesters attacking police officers, but rather show security forces attacking protesters as well as the arrest of some by plain-clothed policemen, which is illegal.

Lawyers added that none of the defendants were shown in the videos. They also denied that the protesters blocked the road, arguing that it was an armored security vehicle that blocked traffic.

Last June, the 25 defendants were sentenced to 15 years jail in absentia and a LE100,000 fine. However, Abd El Fattah, Mohamed Noubi and Wael Metwally were arrested outside the Police Academy at Tora prison on the morning of the trial.

Twenty-one defendants demanded a retrial, two were sentenced in absentia and the remaining two did not file for a retrial. 

In September, the judge presiding over the case stepped down and released Abd El Fattah and the two other defendants from prison on LE5,000 bail. However, in the first court session under a new judge, the Cairo Criminal Court ordered they be detained again.

The trial was adjourned to November 23, and the court refused to release the defendants.