CAIRO
Prosecutors on Monday referred Abdullah Morsi, the youngest son of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, and a friend, to a criminal court on charges of possessing and taking narcotics, a judicial source said.
Investigations and the results of a drug test had shown that Morsi's son and his friend had smoked hashish, the source said.
Abdullah Morsi and a friend were arrested while they were sitting in a car parked on the side of the road in a northeastern Cairo neighborhood. The authorities said that two hashish cigarettes had been found in their possession.
At the time, the family of the ousted president said the charges were fabricated in order to tarnish their reputation, but a later drug test is said to have supported the charges.
On Monday, a judicial source said prosecutors had confirmed the presence of traces of hashish inside the car.
Anadolu Agency could not immediately obtain comments from Abdullah or his friend regarding the charges.
However, when he was released from police custody on March 3, Abdullah said the case against him was "baseless."
"We have not yet been notified of the decision to refer the case to the criminal court," Mohamed Saber, Abdullah's lawyer, said. "The speed with which the case was referred to court is surprising."
The lawyer said prosecutors should have interrogated the owner of the car in which Abdullah and his friend had been arrested.
"This measure aims to drag the family of the ousted president into the current political battle," Saber told AA. "The whole case is politically motivated and aims at tarnishing the reputation of Morsi's family."
He said he would present his defense to the court when a trial was scheduled for Morsi's son.
Saber, however, said he did not expect "a fair trial" for Morsi's son amid what he described as Egypt's current "discriminatory" atmosphere.
Nevertheless, Saber said he would continue to respect Egypt's judiciary.
Although the result of Abdullah's drug test was positive, it does not confirm that he took drugs, Hesham Abdel Hamid, a spokesman for the Forensic Medicine Authority, had told AA in a previous interview.
Morsi – Egypt's first freely-elected president, who was ousted by the army last July after only one year in office – faces charges of inciting the murder of opposition protesters in late 2012.
He is also standing trial on charges of helping prisoners – including himself – break out of jail during Egypt's 2011 uprising and collaborating with foreign parties to carry out hostile acts inside Egypt.
The ousted leader says all charges against him and his co-defendants are politically motivated. He has refused to recognize the trials' legitimacy and insists he remains Egypt's democratically-elected president.
By Hussein Qabani
englishnews@aa.com.tr
