Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, blasted on Sunday court officials during the first session of a re-trial on charges that claimed that he orchestrated a prison break during the 2011 revolution.
Last Sunday, an Egyptian court adjourned a case against Mohamed Morsi on charges of orchestrating a prison escape during January Revolution in 2011 that led to the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.
The court’s session marked the first of a re-trial which is now set to resume on 29 March.
In this case, 26 additional defendants, some members of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, are accused of premeditated and attempted murder in addition to helping as many as 20,000 people escape prison.
During the trial session, Morsi has rejected the court’s proceedings as illegitimate stating, “I am still the president,” reported al-Ahram, an Egyptian state-owned newspaper.
In July 2015, a criminal court sentenced Morsi and a number of other senior Muslim Brotherhood figures to death, handing out life sentences to 20 others.
However, Egypt’s Court of Cassation has overturned a death sentence against Morsi in November 2016.
During the 2011 25th January Revolution, Morsi and other MB leaders were freed by local residents from the Wadi el-Natroun prison after being arrested shortly after protests broke out against Mubarak’s rule.
However, they are accused by Al-Sisi regime of orchestrating the escapes along with members of Hamas, and the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, allegations that they always denied, and the regime never proved.
It is worth to mention that more than 850 people were killed during the anti-Mubarak uprising, the majority in clashes between protesters and security forces.
President Morsi was overthrown by Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi in a military coup on June 4, 2013.
After the coup, the military authorities launched massive attacks against Morsi’s supporters, and the leaders and members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is considered the major political opposition force that has been peacefully resisting Al-Sisi’s military coup.
The Egyptian security forces have arrested thousands of Muslim Brotherhood leaders and members, including President Morsi, and sentenced them to life in prison or death in mass trials carried by the Egyptian judicial system -one of the military coup arms.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International criticized the verdicts against Morsi and described it as “politically motivated”. Rights groups have also called attention to the prison abuse in Egypt’s detention system. Morsi himself has in the past abstained from eating prison food, out of fear for his life.
