Trial of Zawahri brother, 67 other militants postponed until Saturday

Cairo Criminal Court has adjourned until Saturday the trial of 68 terrorists, including Mohamed el Zawahri - the brother of Al Qaeda's number one leader Ayman el Zawahri, over charges of forming a terrorist organization.

In April 2014, the public prosecution had handed over to the court the file of the case that involves 18 runaways with arrest warrants against them.

The defendants are charged with running an Al Qaeda offshoot in Egypt to plot terrorist operations against state institutions, the army, police and Coptic citizens.

The court delayed the trial Tuesday because one of the defendants, Nabil el Maghrabi, could not be brought to the court premises due to illness.

The court also received a report from a technical committee that had been formed by the judicial panel to examine and sort the footage content presented by the public prosecution and defense team.

The prime defendant, Zawahri's brother, has revived the terrorist organization and worked on connecting it with other extremist Jihadist groups outside and inside Egypt, according to investigations.

Following the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 and the dispersal of pro-Morsi protest camps in August, Zawahri's brother gave orders to terrorists to come to Egypt and join militant ranks to execute hostile operations against the police and army.

He was the one to organize the operations and in charge of the provision of firearms and explosives, the investigations revealed.

Cell phones connected with explosive circuits, explosive belts, gun silencers, and large amounts of local and foreign currencies had been found in the possession of the 50 detained terrorists.

Also photos and data about sensitive sites, including the High Dam, power stations, fuel warehouses, the satellite station, security directorates, army HQ, churches and city councils were found with them along with the names of and details about several officers and prominent figures.

Video footage of several terror operations, including bombings of natural gas pipelines, and radical Takfiri fatwas were found stored on their laptops.

Among the weapons seized with the defendants were large quantities of automatic rifles, ammo and bird-shot shells, an 82mm mortar, rockets and their launching pads, bombs and explosive materials.