Egypt to hold ten 'political' trials on anniversary of 'Friday of Anger'

Egypt will hold ten political trials on Tuesday, which marks the third anniversary of the events surrounding 28th January 2011, dubbed the “Friday of Anger”, while the Anti-Coup Pro-Legitimacy Alliance is staging massive nationwide protests against the July 2013 military overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi, calling for the restoration of democracy and the fulfilment of the demands of the revolution.

The ten cases include the prison break trial, in which Morsi and 129 other defendants are accused of orchestrating the escape of more than 20,000 inmates from Egyptian prisons in 2011.

The Administrative Court is also scheduled to look into a case demanding that the Minister of Defense Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi run for president. This comes two days after the military-appointed president announced a change in the transitional roadmap to hold presidential elections in Egypt prior to parliamentary elections.

Ironically, this same court will also be examining five complaints related to a case filed against Al-Sisi’s decision to overthrow Morsi last July.

In addition to these three cases, the same court is scheduled to handle seven other lawsuits, including: one case demanding the expulsion of the Qatari ambassador to Egypt; one requesting to severe ties with Turkey; one demanding the return of university security guards; another calling for the suspension of Al-Shaab opposition newspaper; one calling for an end to US aid to Egypt; a lawsuit demanding the banning of Muslim Brotherhood leaders from political participation for 20 years; and the last case is a complaint filed by a member of the military-installed constitutional panel who was recently placed on a no-fly list.