Morsy trial in prison break case adjourned till September 15

Cairo: An Egyptian court has adjourned the trial of ousted Islamist President Mohamad Morsy and 130 others in a 2011 jailbreak case till September 15.

During the trial in a court here, Judge Shaaban al-Shamy on Saturday chided Morsy for speaking to his co-defendants during the hearing and warned him not to disturb the court.

“Don’t compare me to any one, I am trialling the defendant Mohamed Morsy,” the Judge retorted when Muslim Brotherhood leader Safwat Hegazy, one of the defendants in the case, requested the court to respect the former President.

Morsy, accused of organising a mass breakout from the Wadi al-Natrun prison during the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time President Hosni Mubarak, has previously said that local residents freed the inmates.

The Islamist leader and 130 members of his now banned Muslim Brotherhood are facing trial, along with members of Palestinian resistance movement Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah. Morsy, Egypt’s first elected President, was deposed in July 2013 by the military after mass protests against his rule.

He is now facing four separate criminal trials on charges of killing peaceful protesters, espionage and escaping from prison during the January 25 Revolution in 2011, among others.

So far he has not been sentenced in any case. Muslim Brotherhood has been declared a terrorist organisation and authorities have punished any public showing of support for it.