Trial of Al-Qaeda leader’s brother adjourned in first session

The first court session in the trial of 68 defendants including Mohamed al-Zawahiri, the brother of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, was postponed until July 3 after the defendants were not transferred to the court on Sunday, state-run newspaper Al-Ahram reported.

The defendants are accused of starting and running a terrorist organization linked to Al-Qaeda, that targeted state facilities, police and Armed Forces, as well as Coptic civilians.

The case was referred to the Criminal Court by General Prosecutor Hisham Barakat last April, the newspaper reported.

Investigations reportedly showed that Zawahiri exploited political instability in Egypt and resumed his activities in running the terrorist organization, restructuring it and linking it to other terrorist groups inside and outside the country during Islamist President Mohamed Morsi’s reign.

According to privately owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm, investigations also showed that Zawahiri formed an armed extremist group prepared to attack the state as calls to oust Morsi intensified in the run-up to mass protests on June 30.

The group looked to destabilize country, the newspaper said.

Zawahiri, a former leader of Islamic Jihad and a prominent figure in the Salafi Jihadi movement, was arrested in Cairo last August. 

Prior to his arrest, he had warned on his Facebook page that he was following the conflict between the Muslim Brotherhood and the military with great interest and that his group will only intervene "at the right moment."

Zawahiri was released among other prisoners in March 2011, before being re-arrested and released again the following year. He had spent 14 years in prison on terrorism charges, including involvement in the assassination of former President Anwar Sadat.