CAIRO: Attorney-General Hisham Brakat referred 58 members of a Muslim Brotherhood linked group named “Unidentified against Coup” to the military prosecution Sunday over “terrorism-related” charges in Giza.
The defendants face charges of spying for Brotherhood figures based in Qatar and Turkey as they allegedly agreed with them to assassinate police and military officers and judges, as well as sabotaging public facilities and using their Facebook page for spreading lies that aim to “destabilize public peace,” according to a statement released by Barakat’s office, The last post on the page, which has 47,000 likes, was made April 29.
Only 37 out of the 58 defendants have been arrested. Seventeen of them confessed to committing the most notable charges; attempted murderer of some policemen, attempting to destroy a power station, sabotaging two private banks and two natural gas units.
The said incidents took place between August 2013 and October 2014, according to the prosecution.
In October, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi passed a decree that greatly expands the scope of military tribunals; the decree allows a closed-door military trial for any civilian charged with attacking public properties, such as trains. In some cases, the decree was applied retroactively to some civilians.
Valid for two years, the decree was passed shortly after the death of at least 30 security personnel in militant attacks in North Sinai in October 2014, and has been criticized by many human rights organizations.
In December 2013, Egypt declared the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization and states it is behind the stringent wave of militancy targeting security personnel.