The Cairo Criminal Court postponed Saturday the trial of 213 alleged members of the Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis jihadist group. The case was postponed to 15 July, after the unsealing of exhibits in Saturday's session. The group now calls itself "State of Sinai" after pledging allegiance to the regional extremist group "Islamic State". The charges levelled against the defendants are committing 54 crimes, including assassinating police officers, the attempted assassination of former interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim, as well as bombing public facilities. The presiding judge for the case, Hassan Farid, was one of four judges announced as targets in a video released by the group last week. The video, released last week, showed the killing of three judges by the group back in May. Egypt has been grappling with an insurgency in North Sinai since early 2011, not long after the uprising that deposed veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak. The group has claimed most of the violence that has engulfed North Sinai. The group has been using propaganda very similar to that of its parent affiliate group, "Islamic State". Attacks intensified when Mohamed Morsi was ousted from the presidency by then-army chief, now-president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, following mass protests. Wednesday saw unprecedented simultaneous attacks on at least five security checkpoints in the region, and a siege by the group of a police station in Sheikh Zuweid. Seventeen military personnel were killed, along with at least 100 militants, according to an official military statement late Wednesday. Other sources put the toll at much higher, however, with several quoting security and medical officials. These attacks came only two days after the assassination of Prosecutor General Hisham Barkat in an explosion in Cairo. The murder was the first of a senior public official in Egypt since 1990. "State of Sinai", however, did not claim the assassination. Attacks, including bombings and shootings, have increasingly targeted urban areas. "State of Sinai", however, does not usually claim these attacks. Some groups that have claimed attacks in urban areas include Ajnad Misr and the Giza Popular Resistance.
