Cairo court adjourns trial of three Muslim Brotherhood leaders until October News
Cairo court adjourns trial of three Muslim Brotherhood leaders until October
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[JURIST] A Cairo court on Sunday adjourned the trial of three Muslim Brotherhood [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] leaders, Mohammed Badie, Khairat al-Shater and Rashad Bayoumy, after the three failed to appear in court, citing security conserns. The judge postponed [Reuters report] the trial to October 29. Badie was arrested [JURIST news report] earlier this week. The charges against the three include incitement to violence in connection with a protest which killed 9 people and wounded over 90 near the group’s headquarters on June 30.

Although Egypt has faced political unrest since the Egyptian Revolution [JURIST backgrounder] began over two years ago, the conflict peaked in July after the Egyptian military deposed [JURIST report] former president Mohamed Morsi [official BBC profile; JURIST news archive] in addition to suspending the nation’s constitution and installing an interim government. Only one day after Morsi was ousted, Egyptian authorities shut down four Islamist-run television stations [JURIST report]. The Chairman of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, Adly Mansour [BBC profile], took the oath [JURIST report] to become the interim head of state after Morsi’s ouster. Earlier this month, the Egyptian prime minister proposed formally dissolving [JURIST report] the non-governmental organization registration of the Muslim Brotherhood in an effort to force the group underground. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] last month urged Egyptian authorities [JURIST report] to address the escalating violence. According to the OHCHR more than 80 people have been killed and over 1000 injured since political turmoil gripped the nation last month.