Egypt court adjourns Morsi trial

Monday, February 24, 2014

Cairo - An Egyptian court has adjourned the trial of former President Mohamed Morsi until later in the week.

The delay until Thursday was granted so the court can respond to defence concerns about the procedures in the trial of Morsi and 35 other Muslim Brotherhood defendants.

The court last week appointed a new defence team, which brought an immediate defence motion to have a mistrial declared on the grounds the defendants had only authorised the original team of lawyers to handle their case.

Ahram Online said the new attorneys had also requested that their clients not be confined to a soundproof glass booth "in order to preserve the reputation of the Egyptian judiciary." The court's refusal to remove the booth earlier in the trial led to the original defence team withdrawing from the case.

Morsi and his co-defendants face a raft of charges relating to national security, including collaborating with terrorist organisations and spilling sensitive defence information to foreign countries. – SAnews.gov.za-UPI