Cairo Criminal Court judges step down from Brotherhood trial

Three judges due to preside in the trial of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood have decided to step down from the proceedings. The case scheduled at the Cairo Criminal Court is the trial of Supreme Guide Mohamed Badei and his deputies Khairat El-Shater and Mohamed Rashad Bayoumi. All three are charged with inciting a number of the movement’s members to commit murder and attempted murder against protesters in front of the Brotherhood’s guidance bureau in the Cairo suburb of El-Mokattam on June 30. Nine people were killed in the violence and 91 were injured.

The judges’ decision to step down was due to “a feeling of embarrassment” about the case because the defendants were not taken to the court by the security services on the two occasions that they should have been there. The judges felt that they could not and would not continue with a trial in which the defendants were not present to defend themselves. The court decided instead to send the file to the Cairo Court of Appeal so that a different court and set of judges could be allocated to the case.