Trial of Zawahri brother adjourned to January 18

The Cairo Criminal Court delayed until January 18 the trial of 68 terrorists, including Mohamed el Zawahri - the brother of Al-Qaeda's number one leader Ayman el Zawahri, over forming a terrorist organization.
The court postponed the hearing to resume testimonies given by the prosecution witnesses.
The judge sentenced all the defendants to one year of hard labor over contempt of court after Zawahri kept interrupting the court proceedings several times.
In April, the public prosecution had handed over to the court the file of the case that includes 18 runaways with arrest warrants issued 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 Copts.
The case file made up of more than 3,000 papers covers everything in relation - investigation sessions, confessions and technical reports about the seizures including weapons, ammunition and laptops.
The prime defendant, the Zawahri brother, had 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 sit-ins in August 2013, Zawahri gave orders to fighters from terrorist Daesh to come to Egypt and join militant ranks to execute hostile operations against the police and army. Zawahri was the one to organize the operations and in charge of the provision of firearms and explosives, the investigations revealed.
Cellphones connected with explosive circuits, explosives belts, gun silencers, large amounts of local and foreign currency notes, and organizational papers on executing the attacks were 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 the 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 launch pads, bombs and explosive materials.
Source: MENA