Egypt begin the trial of Muslim brotherhood leader Mahmud Ezzat
A judicial source informed AFP that an Egyptian court started on Thursday the trial of Mahmud Ezzat, who is the interim supreme leader of the outlawed Islamist movement the Muslim Brotherhood.
The source stated that the hearing was held before the State Security Court at Tora Prison in the capital Cairo, adding that the next hearing was fixed for January 4 for procedural reasons.
Ezzat (76), was detained in late August in Cairo after escaping for seven years; he actually has already been condemned to two death punishments in absentia and life imprisonment. In 2015, he was condemned on accusations related to the killing of military and state officials.
According to the judicial source, the trial that was started on Thursday views the accusation of Ezzat for supervising the killing of soldiers and state officials, especially the 2015 murder of former attorney general Hisham Barakat,
The same source said that he also accused of supervising the explosion of a vehicle in front of the National Institute for Cancer, which was an attack that killed 20 people in August 2019. He also charged for having directed cyber militias.
Ezzat, who is a member of the Brotherhood since the 1960s, was in the prison under the presidencies of both Gamal Abdel Nasser and Hosni Mubarak, and has served as the organization’s acting leader for many times.
The Brotherhood founded in 1928, and established itself in the mid-20th century as the main opposition movement in Egypt, and in other countries in the region.
However in 2013, the movement was deleted from Egypt’s political scene after brief one-year by one of its members Mohamed Morsi, who was overthrew by the army following the big demonstrations against his presidency.
