The Criminal Court postponed Sunday the trial of 215 alleged members of the Cairo-based militant group the Helwan Brigades to 30 December. The defendants are accused of forming a militant group to carry out hostile operations against the police and sabotage electric facilities, including electricity pylons. They were referred to court in February, with 125 of the defendants then in pre-trial detention and the remaining 90 with warrants for their arrest. The defendants were referred to trial by late prosecutor general Hisham Barakat. He accused the 215 men of killing six police men and possessing weapons and ammunition. The Helwan Brigades are a relatively little-known militant group in Egypt. In late 2014, some members of the group appeared in a video holding firearms and threatening security forces and "the interior ministry in South Cairo" with violence, adding that they were "fed up with the Muslim Brotherhood's peacefulness". They further expressed solidarity with the Muslim Brotherhood protesters who were killed but they now claim they were not members of the now-banned group.
