Lawyer links Morsi’s new trial to constitution vote

Al-Damati accuses military-backed authorities of “distorting the image of a president whose supporters rejected the referendum and call for boycotting it” An Egyptian lawyer has linked the prosecution’s decision to refer ousted president Mohamed Morsi to court on jailbreak charges to a planned constitutional referendum, slated for mid-January. “This is a precautionary measure that is related to the upcoming referendum on the constitution,” Mohamed al-Damati, a spokesman for lawyers representing several defendants in another Morsi trial related to the deadly clashes outside Ittihadiya presidential palace, told Anadolu Agency. In November, Morsi appeared before court for the first time to answer charges that he had incited the murder of opposition protesters last year. On Saturday, prosecutors referred him and 129 others, including members of the Palestinian group Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah movement, to court on charges related to Morsi’s escape from Wadi al-Natrun jail during the 2011 uprising that toppled longstanding autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Last week, the deposed leader was referred, along with others, to court on charges of “conspiring” with Hamas and Hezbollah to carry out a “terrorist plot” in Egypt. “Morsi is expected to be acquitted of charges in the Ittihadiya clashes, and so the authorities are taking a preemptive move by referring him to two other trials…to ensure that he stays in prison [until after the referendum],” al-Damati suggested. Egypt’s army-installed interim authorities will organize a referendum on January 14 and 15 on an amended version of the 2012 constitution, which was suspended by the military when ousting Morsi in July. Morsi’s supporters, for their part, reject the transitional roadmap and insist the Morsi is still the country’s legitimate president. They insist that all charges against the ousted president – and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders and Islamist figures – are politically motivated. “These are political trials, not criminal ones…And Morsi would be cleared of all charges because they have no legal basis,” al-Damati argued. “The consecutive referral decisions are linked to the political developments, especially with the referendum around the corner,” he added. The lawyer accused the military-backed authorities of “distorting the image of a president whose supporters rejected the referendum and call for boycotting it.”