Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed El-Beltagy during trial in November (Photo: Reuters)
Cairo Criminal Court on Saturday adjourned a case against a number of Islamist figures charged with torture, including leading member Mohamed El-Beltagy, until 12 April.
El-Beltagy, former MP and judge Mahmoud El-Khodeiry, Al Jazeera Arabic presenter Ahmed Mansour, and Islamist preacher Safwat Hegazy are charged with false imprisonment and torture allegedly committed during the 2011 revolution.
A video has circulated on social media allegedly showing a Muslim Brotherhood member torturing a Hosni Mubarak loyalist detained during the Battle of the Camel on 2 February 2011, when the protesters’ sit-in in Tahrir Square was attacked by Mubarak partisans. The defendants are accused of supervising the torture.
Also postponed to 12 April was a case against Essam Sultan, head of the Islamist Wasat Party, and his deputy Gamal Gebril, as well as Taher Abdel-Mohsen who was a Shura Council member under Mohamed Morsi. They are facing charges of insulting the judiciary.
Thousands of Islamist leading figures have been rounded up since the ouster of Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, last July. They face various charges including committing and inciting violence against opponents.
The Brotherhood were designated a terrorist organisation by the government in December.
Short link: