Morsi's lawyer crisis continues

The crisis of hiring a lawyer to represent the ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi continued in today’s session in the case of the prisons escape, in which the former leader and 130 others are being charged.

The defendants are standing trial for their involvement in storming prisons during the January 25, 2011, revolution that toppled Egypt’s former President Hosni Mubarak. According to judicial sources, the trial has been postponed to October 1.

A source said that the Cairo Criminal Court postponed the trial in order to implement the earlier requests of the defence team submitted during a previous session, including: calling witnesses, asking the public prosecutor to seek information from the General Intelligence Directorate and the Office of Military Intelligence Services and Reconnaissance about whether the incidents of the infiltration of non-Egyptian elements into Egypt through the eastern borders (border with the Gaza Strip), during the revolution of January 2011, were tapped as they are claimed to be involved in the operations of the storming of prisons and the smuggling of prisoners.

During today’s session, Morsi’s legal team said: “President Morsi refuses the trial because of a lack of jurisdiction and lawyer Mohamed Salim Al-Awa explained this before the court earlier.”

The judge said that, “in the event of the absence a lawyer with Morsi, the court shall appoint an attorney to him.” Morsi’s lawyers then requested a meeting with the defendant to attain his final decision on the issue.

Yesterday, Morsi appeared in court charged with “collaborating” with Hamas, Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The session witnessed the continuation of the debate about the legality of his trial after his insistence that he is the legitimate president of the country, and the lack of decision from Morsi’s defence team regarding whether he will have a lawyer or not. The court postponed the trial until September 29.

The prisons break case involves 131 defendants, of which 105 have escaped and 26 are being administratively detained on charges of storming 11 prisons, attacking police stations, and abducting three police officers and one police assistant, during the January 25, 2011 revolution.