Egypt: Morsi’s ‘espionage’ trial postponed to 15 October

An Egyptian criminal court has postponed the trial of former President Mohamed Morsi and a number of other defendants in a court case in which they are accused of spying for Hamas; it is now due to take place on 15 October.

Morsi was ousted in July 2013 in a military coup that was led by current President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi who was the country’s defence minister at the time. Since the coup, Morsi and scores of Muslim Brotherhood members and sympathisers, as well as pro-democracy activists, have faced trials, many of which have been described by international watchdogs as “political” that were fabricated as part of a wider crackdown on opponents.

In the “espionage” case, Morsi, members of the Brotherhood’s Guidance Bureau and a number of former members of parliament are accused of spying for the Muslim Brotherhood’s international organisation, Hamas, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. The defendants are also accused of cooperating with takfiri groups in the Sinai allegedly toward the goal of bringing down the Egyptian regime and taking over power.

Egypt recently brokered a reconciliation deal and a prisoner swap between Hamas and Fatah.

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