Morsi retrial in jailbreak case adjourned to March 10

CAIRO, 28 Feb 2019: The retrial of former President Mohamed Morsi in the case of storming prisons during the January 25 Revolution in 2011, known in the media as jailbreak, was adjourned to March 10, 2019.

In June 2015, Cairo Criminal Court issued a death sentence in the case against Morsi, MB supreme guide Mohamed Badie and other key figures of the terrorist group. However, in November 2016, the Court of Cassation annulled the sentence and ordered a retrial of the defendants.

Morsi and other co-defendants face charges of damaging and setting fire to prison buildings, murder and attempted murder, and looting prison weapons depots while allowing prisoners from the Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah, jihadists, and other criminals to break out of jails.

The charges are linked to the escape of more than 20,000 inmates from three Egyptian prisons during the early days of the 2011 revolution.

Others accused in the prison break case include senior Brotherhood leaders Mohamed Saad el Katatni, Essam el Erian and Mohamed el Beltagy.

Last December and for the first time, former presidents Mohamed Hosni Mubarak and Mohamed Morsi faced each other at the Egyptian Criminal Court, as Mubarak testified at the trial of Morsi.

During the trial, Mubarak declined to answer several questions concerning national security in the lawsuit known as “the illegal crossing of eastern borders” unless he obtains permission from the Egyptian Armed Forces and President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.