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Egyptian court refuses appeal to release Muslim Brotherhood leaders

February 5, 2014 at 2:11 am

Cairo’s Criminal Court refused on Monday the appeal filed by Muslim Brotherhood leaders against their detention on charges of violence, a judicial source told mass media.

The defendants who appealed against their detention included the Brotherhood lawyer Ahmed Abu Baraka, spokespersons Ahmed Aref and Sa’ad Al-Hosseini, university lecturer Salah Sultan, Sa’ad Al-Shater and 14 others.


The High Court of state security services, which reviews all cases related to internal and external security, accuses the defendants of taking part in killing, spreading false propaganda inside and outside Egypt and being affiliated to a banned group that uses terror to carry out its aims.

A correspondent from the Turkish news agency Anadolu said that during the open hearing, the defendants called for their immediate release and overturning the arrest warrants against them. They reportedly said that there were neither specified charges nor evidence against them.

They also told the judges that all charges against them were false and none of them was caught in possession of any kind of weapons.

When they appeared on the dock, the Brotherhood leaders chanted: “Down, down to the military rule.”

Abu Baraka called for the court to listen to the defendants, who wanted to speak about the charges being brought against them. The chief judge allowed them to speak consecutively.

All of them complained that the public prosecution arbitrarily demanded their detention, and pointed out that the police had arrested them without the necessary evidence and legal orders.

Sa’ad Al-Husseini called the public prosecution a traitor. “It has betrayed the honour of Egypt,” he said, calling it “the biggest enemy of the nation”.

For its side, the court responded that it had decided to arrest the Brotherhood leaders fearing that they might flee the country during the current instability.

Supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi, the first ever Egyptian president who was freely elected, consider what happened on 3 July to be a military coup. They have not accepted any of the illegitimate outcomes resulting from the coup until today.

With most of the Muslim Brotherhood leaders arrested, many other parties have joined the protests against the coup and are calling for an end to the military rule.