In a week that saw a surge in terrorism the government continued its crackdown on senior officials of the ousted regime of Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. On Tuesday Morsi and 21 other Muslim Brotherhood defendants faced the first hearing of their trial on charges of collaborating with the Palestinian Islamist movement of Hamas and the Lebanese Shia party of Hizbullah to escape from Wadi Al-Natron prison at the height of the January 2011 Revolution. The charges include the attempted murder of police officers. Other defendants, including 70 Palestinians, are being tried in absentia. Morsi could face the death penalty if convicted. The trial was postponed to 22 February as Morsi made his second appearance in court since mass street protests removed him from office on 3 July 2013. Morsi will make a third appearance next Saturday to face charges of issuing orders to kill peaceful protesters in front of Al-Ittihadiya presidential palace in December 2012. They were demonstrating against a constitutional declaration issued by Morsi that placed his decrees beyond judicial scrutiny. Amir Salem, the leading independent lawyer who played a major role in uncovering the circumstances of Morsi's escape from Wadi Al-Natron prison, believes “the successful organisation of the first court hearing in Morsi's trial on Tuesday has a great deal of political significance.” “It stressed the government's resolve to put senior officials of the Muslim Brotherhood regime in the dock as scheduled, undaunted by terrorist threats, violent street protests or objections from Western sources, especially the US.” Tuesday's opening of Morsi's trial saw the assassination of a senior aide to Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim and the killing of a policeman guarding a Coptic church that was the target of an armed attack in 6 October city. “Although he and his Brotherhood co-defendants still reject the idea of being put on trial, arguing that they cannot be tried by judges loyal to the military coup regime, Morsi was finally forced to face reality and accept the status quo,” says Salem. “He decided to entrust a lawyer — Selim Al-Awwa — with his defence before the court after repeatedly refusing to appoint a lawyer on the grounds that he did not recognise the court's authority. Morsi was also forced to wear white prison garb like his autocratic predecessor Mubarak.” The appearance of Morsi in prison clothing, Salem insists, sends the message that “the government is strong and determined to prosecute Morsi and his senior officials sooner or later — in spite of the interruptions they raised during the court sessions — they will be forced to come face to face with their crimes.” “With Morsi finally forced to wear prison garb the public can recognise that the era of this Islamist autocrat has gone and that all claims raised by his group about a military coup are hollow.” Salem argues that security forces have succeeded in aborting Morsi and his co-defendants' attempts to disrupt the trial. The defendants were placed in a sound-proof glass cage to prevent a repeat of the interruptions they made in their first court appearance last year. Morsi told the court he had been flown to the trial location at 7pm the previous night and insisted he was a political prisoner not a criminal detainee. Morsi's lawyer Al-Awwa was a candidate in the 2012 presidential election. He defended several Muslim Brotherhood members during the reign of longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak, though he denies being officially affiliated to the group. Al-Awwa was a legal advisor to the moderate-Islamist Wasat Party, an offshoot of the Brotherhood. TV footage showed Morsi in his prison uniform pacing back and forth alongside other Islamist defendants who shouted “null, null” at the judges. Morsi also shouted at the judge, asking “who are you?” The judge replied: “I am the head of the Criminal Court”. The charges are linked to the escape of more than 20,000 inmates from three Egyptian prisons during the early days of the 2011 revolution. Morsi was arrested on 27 January 2011 and transferred with 33 senior Brotherhood officials to Wadi Al-Natron prison on the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road. Prosecutors charge that on 28 January — the Friday of Anger — armed members of Hamas used the security collapse to infiltrate Egypt from Gaza. Supported by Muslim Brotherhood sleeping cells they then stormed the Wadi Al-Natron prison to release Morsi and his colleagues. Morsi subsequently made satellite telephone contact with the Qatari channel Al-Jazeera telling them that ordinary citizens had stormed the prison and set him free. Prosecutors allege the defendants torched prison buildings, attempted to murder prison guards, looted prison weapons depots and allowed prisoners from the Hamas movement, Hizbullah, jihadists, Brotherhood [members] and other criminals” to escape. Morsi and 130 co-defendants are also accused of “carrying out a plot to bring down the Egyptian state and its institutions”. Prosecutors say over 800 fighters from Gaza infiltrated Egypt and used RPGs and other heavy weapons while storming the three prisons, abducting four policemen and killing several others. The Police Academy was heavily guarded on Tuesday. Morsi's supporters did not appear in the vicinity of the court but demonstrated in central Cairo where they clashed with police forces who fired tear gas to disperse them. The defendants include senior Brotherhood leaders Saad Al-Katatni, Essam Al-Erian, Mohamed Al-Beltagui, and pro-Brotherhood preacher Safwat Hegazi.
