Mohamed Sabry Emam Muhammed
29 June 2016•Update: 29 June 2016
By Hussein Mahmoud
CAIRO
An Egyptian court ordered Wednesday the retrial of 494 people arrested three years ago during a standoff between Egyptian security forces and protesters opposed to Egypt’s 2013 military coup who had been holed up inside a mosque in central Cairo.
In mid-August 2013, hundreds of supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi -- who the army had removed from office six weeks earlier -- took refuge in the Al-Fath Mosque near Cairo’s central Ramses Square following protests against Morsi’s ouster.
Security forces laid siege to the mosque, eventually detaining the pro-Morsi protesters holed up inside, who were later charged with "committing acts of violence" and "assaulting security forces".
A Cairo court had been set to rule on the charges Wednesday, but instead ordered a retrial.
"Instead of delivering its verdict today, the Cairo Criminal Court ordered a retrial," lawyer Ismail Abu Baraka told Anadolu Agency.
According to Abu Baraka, the court dropped charges against three of the defendants who had died while in custody, while two others were released.
Egypt has been roiled by violence since mid-2013, when Egypt’s powerful military establishment ousted Morsi -- the country’s first freely elected president and a leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood group -- after only one year in office.
Since Morsi’s ouster, the Egyptian authorities have waged a relentless crackdown on political dissent, killing hundreds and detaining tens of thousands of the ousted president’s supporters.
