Cairo- On Tuesday, Head of Cairo Criminal Court, Counselor Hassan Farid joked with the defendant Usama Mohamed Mohamed's lawyer in the case of ‘Bait Al Maqdis Supporters' by saying, "You should enter the defendant's cage to see for yourself." This was said after the lawyer insisted to make sure that his client is present in the defendant's cage during the trial of 213 defendants accused of joining the terrorist organization Bait El Maqdis (Supporters of Jerusalem) and committing 54 crimes including assassinating police officers, the attempted assassination of Mohamed Ibrahim, the former Minister of Interior, and bombing several security entities. The trial was adjourned to June 17 till witnesses are brought in. The group was the name of a jihadist extremist militant group based in Egypt. From 2011 to 2013, operated in the Sinai Peninsula, focused its efforts on Israel and the gas pipeline to Jordan. Counselor Hassan Farid issued the Deputy Minister of Interior for the Prison Sector a 1000 pound fine for not allowing the families of Bait El Maqdis defendants to visit them in prison even though the prosecution permitted them to do so. The prosecution also allowed the families of the accused and their lawyers to visit them after the trial.
