Egyptian Court issues statement on rulings against Morsi

Cairo Criminal Court has issued a statement of reasons following its ruling against former president Mohamed Morsi on charges of prison break, attacking police facilities and killing policemen.

Morsi, supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood group Mohamed Badie, four MB leaders and 93 fugitives were sentenced to death.

The rest of the defendants received terms varying from life to two-year sentences.

All 129 defendants were also ordered to pay a temporary compensation worth 250 million pounds to the Interior Ministry.

The detailed court statement, issued in 332 pages, tackled and refuted 25 arguments that had been raised by the defense team representing the defendants since the beginning of the trial on January 28, 2014.

The statement shed light on irrefutable evidence that undoubtedly revealed that the defendants had had a hand in jailbreak incidents that resulted in the killing of 32 troops and inmates of Abu Zaabal Prison, 14 inmates of Wadi el Natroun Prison and one held in Marg Prison. The defendants were also found guilty of smuggling some 20,000 prisoners out of the three mentioned jails.

The defendants were also convicted of kidnapping three officers and a policeman guarding the border with Gaza and taking them by force to the Gaza Strip.

The court based its rulings on the outcome of investigations conducted by the intelligence agency and the national security department, as well as accounts of witnesses, whether policemen or prisoners, who had been there during the attacks on the three prisons.

The statement touched upon what the court called a "systematic scheme" led by the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood in collaboration with foreign parties.

Armed elements had entered the country and attacked security and government facilities along the border line with Gaza, the statement said, adding that police troops were forced to retreat to Arish city.

The militants then took control of the whole border line and the cities of Rafah and Sheikh Zuwaid, where they imposed a curfew.

The statement particularly named the Palestinian Movement of Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah as collaborators with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. It added that some jihadist elements of Sinai Bedouins were also implicated.

The statement made it clear that storming three of Egypt's highly-secured prisons and smuggling out prisoners is not something the Muslim Brotherhood could possibly carry out without the help of foreign parties.

The Muslim Brotherhood, though intact, had no enough potentials before the January 25 Revolution to unilaterally commit such crimes, which proves the involvement of foreign parties.

That MB plot was detected through multiple secret meetings between the group and leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah during which they agreed that the Palestinian and Lebanese movements and their regional partners play a military role in Egypt to topple the existing regime at that time, according to the court statement.

It particularly pointed to telephone conversations between Morsi and member of the international Muslim Brotherhood organization Ahmed Abdel Aati that had been bugged based on a prosecution permit.

The calls revealed the relationship between the Muslim Brotherhood and foreign spy agencies, atop of which the CIA, the statement said.

The Turkish intelligence agency had played a role in connecting MB members in Egypt with their counterparts in other countries, the statement added.

It also touched upon Qatar's role in financing the criminal project and promoting MB policies through its Aljazeera news channel.

Morsi was tried with 128 co-defendants, of whom only 22 attended the trial.

More than 70 of those tried in absentia were Palestinians. Other fugitives were from Hamas and Hezbollah.
Source: MENA