Egypt: Court adjourns retrial of former President Morsi

A Cairo criminal court adjourned until 12 February the retrial of former President Mohamed Morsi and a number of Muslim Brotherhood leaders in the case concerning a prison break during the 2011 uprising.

The court ordered the case to be adjourned because Egypt is marking the anniversary of the January 25 Revolution and Police Day which fall on the same day. In 2011 protesters chose Police Day to launch demonstrations against police brutality, these eventually lead to the overthrow of the then government of long term dictator Hosni Mubarak.

A member of the homeland security department was due to give evidence in the case against Mosri.

In November 2016, the Court of Cassation, the highest court in Egypt , annulled the sentences that had been handed down to Morsi and 25 Brotherhood members, ordering a retrial.

Morsi became the first democratically elected president of Egypt in 2012, he was ousted in a bloody military coup led by the then defence minister turned President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi who has since imprisoned thousands of Brotherhood supports, democracy advocates and members of the Morsi’s government.

Eight years after uprising, Egyptians say freedoms have eroded