A foreign legal delegation has filed a request with Egyptian judicial authorities to attend the first session of the trial of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, slated to begin on November 4.
The delegation includes ten activists from the Netherlands, Switzerland, France and the UK including prominent judges and lawyers, Egyptian legal sources told Anadolu Agency.
The delegation will arrive in Egypt on Friday for a five-day visit, the sources said.
Judicial sources confirmed that the Cairo Appeals Court had received the delegation's request and that top court judges were considering it.
The delegation will also pay visits to several Egyptian prison facilities to examine conditions therein. Its agenda also includes meetings with Egyptians affected by the unrest that has plagued the country since Morsi was ousted by Egypt's military establishment on July 3.
Once the delegation wraps up its visit it will present a report of its findings, the legal sources said, which will be sent to the United Nations and a number of international legal organizations.
Morsi, Egypt's first democratically-elected president, along with 14 of his aides, faces charges – which critics insist are politically motivated – of inciting the murder of protesters outside Cairo's Ittihadiya presidential palace late last year.
It will be Morsi's first court appearance since his ouster this summer by the military following massive protests against his presidency.
Members of Morsi's defense team say the deposed leader refuses to recognize the court's legitimacy, stressing that they themselves would only attend the trial in the capacity of "observers" and not to mount a legal defense.
The Interior Ministry has not officially settled on a venue for the trial. But security sources told AA earlier that it was expected to be held at the police academy near Tora Prison, south of Cairo.
Morsi also faces charges of helping prisoners – including himself – break out of jail during Egypt's 2011 revolution, sabotaging public property and abducting security personnel.
Reporting by Khaled Abdel-Rahman
englishnews@aa.com.tr
