Defence council boycotts trial of Muslim Brotherhood leader and 682 defendants

The defence team of Tuesday’s trial of 682 defendants, including the General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, has boycotted the session in protest against the “farcical trials” of coup opponents.

The Judge hearing the Edwa case is the same judge who handed down 529 death sentences on Monday, which triggered international uproar.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s General Guide Mohamed Badie, as well as the President of the Freedom and Justice Party Saad Al-Katatny and 682 others are charged with burning the Edwa police station in Minya governorate last summer.

The Anti-Coup Alliance and the Muslim Brotherhood condemn the trials as farcical and politically motivated. Rights groups slammed Monday’s verdict as “grotesque” and a “miscarriage of justice.”