Judge Ali Omran, acting assistant to the Prosecutor General, referred 53 suspects to a military court on charges of violence and terrorist attacks. The defendants include cleric Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, members of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Anti-Coup Alliance, officials said. National Security authorities accused the suspects of murdering a senior officer at the criminal evidence department, named as Wael Tahoun, in Cairo on 21 April. Tahoun was shot dead as he left his house in Matariya. The defendants are facing charges of planning and executing operations against policemen and judges, as well as coordinating those attacks upon orders from ‘members outside Egypt', according to a copy of the referral order, published Sunday by state-run news agency MENA. Among the attacks the group is accused of performing are explosions in front of telecommunications companies Mobinil, Vodafone and Etisalat, the Nozha police station, and the Heliopolis Court, among other similar attacks in Cairo. Only 35 of the suspects are in detention, while the rest are considered fugitives, and will receive the maximum penalty if they do not appear for trial. According to a recently passed anti-terrorism law, verdicts issued in absentia have higher chances of being upheld.
