Egypt’s Public Prosecution ordered 10 defendants to be remanded in custody for a further 15 days on charges of joining a terrorist group and spreading rumors and false information against the Egyptian state.
The defendants were on Friday accused of joining a group established in violations of the law in order to prevent state institutions from carrying out their duties.
The prosecution charged the defendants with “spreading false news about the political and economic situation in the country, with the aim of disturbing public peace in line with the Muslin Brotherhood’s targets, and promoting the group’s goals to undermine confidence in the Egyptian state and its institutions.”
Meanwhile, the Western Military Criminal Court will continue on Sunday the trial of 43 defendants in the October 2018 terrorist attack in Bahariya Oasis, south of Giza, which left 16 policemen dead and 13 others injured.
Late October, Egypt’s General Prosecutor Nabil Sadeq referred the defendants - headed by Abdel Raheem al-Mesmary, who lived in Libya’s Derna - to a military trial for their involvement in the attack.
Investigators revealed that “Mesmary had received training in camps inside Libyan territory on the use of heavy weapons, manufacturing explosives and infiltrating Egypt to establish a training camp in the Oasis to form a terrorist group in the country.”
These steps were to be followed by a series of hostile operations against churches and some vital installations.
The 43 defendants were charged with “premeditated manslaughter against police officers in the Oasis for terrorist purposes, attempted murder for the same purpose, and possession of firearms, ammunition and firecrackers.”
