An emergency security court in the southern Egyptian city of Qena Saturday delayed until March 20 the trial of the three Egyptian Muslims accused of gunning down six Coptic Christians last month. The suspects pleaded not guilty at the start of their trial amid heavy security. "The trial will resume on March 20 after it was delayed at the request of the defendants' lawyers," the court said Saturday. The courtroom was packed with police, local and international media, and around 30 lawyers. Sameh Ashour, a Muslim Lawyer, has head volunteered to represent the Christian victims. Expatriate Copts have also sent a lawyer to attend the hearings. The lawyers, mostly Copts, clashed with Nabih el-Wash, the Muslim lawyer of the suspects, who claimed that the case was fabricated against his clients. A Muslim guard was also killed when three gunmen targeted worshippers emerging from services on the eve of the Coptic Orthodox Christmas on January 6 in town of Naga Hammadi. It was the deadliest attack since 2000, when 20 Copts were killed in sectarian clashes. The defendants - Mohamed el-Kammuni, Qorshi Abul Haggag and Hendawi Sayyed - all pleaded "not guilty" as the judge read out the charges against them. Heavy security was visible Saturday, with everyone entering the court building subjected to two searches. The building was also surrounded by anti-riot police carrying firearms, and explosive detection devices, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said. The non-governmental organisation said on its website that the trial was adjourned when an Egyptian lawyer asked the court to summon attributed to Fathi Surour, the Speaker of the Egyptian Parliament's Lower House, as a witness, based on a press statements attributed to him, "indicating he knew who instigated the shootings". The suspects were arrested after the attack and were charged with "premeditated murder, putting the life of citizens in danger and damage to public and private property," a judicial source has said. The killings sparked outrage among the country's christians and led to clashes with police as the Coptic residents accused the authorities of refusing to recognise the attack as sectarian. Egyptian officials have denied a sectarian element in the attack, insisting the act was purely criminal, linking it to the alleged rape of a Muslim girl by a Coptic man last November. Meanwhile, Bishop Kirolus of Naga Hammadi said Saturday participants in a 40-day ceremony to commemorate the killings should hold invitation cards signed personally by him "otherwise they will be denied entry by the police". "Lists of the invitees for those who will attend the ceremony will be issued and handed to the police," Kirolus said. Copts, who account for nearly 10 per cent of Egypt's population of 80 million, are the Middle East's largest Christian community, but complain about routine harassment and systematic discrimination and marginalisation by the country's authorities.
