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Egypt court suspends Morsi's jailbreak trial

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IANS Cairo

Egypt's Cairo criminal court decided Monday to suspend the trial of ousted president Mohamed Morsi and some 130 others over charges of a 2011 jailbreak, for studying requests to change the judges panel, media reported.

The defending team asked for the judges' panel to recuse itself, deeming it as biased, Xinhua reported citing official news agency MENA.

Morsi appeared in court on charges of escaping from Wady al-Natroun prison with the assistance of domestic and foreign forces during the Jan 25 uprising in 2011.

Some 130 others, affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood, Palestinian Hamas movement and Lebanese Shia military party Hezbollah, were tried with Morsi, mostly in absentia. They were accused of storming the prison and kidnapping and killing police officers.

 

Morsi also faces two other trials, one for the killing of protestors during his presidency, and the other for espionage.

Morsi is expected to go on trial also for "insulting the judiciary", but no date has yet been set for that case.

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First Published: Feb 24 2014 | 5:28 PM IST

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