Egypt's State Security Court Sunday adjourned until March 20 the trial of 25 suspects allegedly accused of planning attacks against the ships passing thorough Suez Canal and killing a jeweller and four others in the Cairo suburb of Zeitoun two years ago, a judicial source and lawyers for the defendants said. "The hearings in the 'Zeitoun Cell' will resume on March 20 as the defence asked for time to get copies of the investigations' dossier," the source, who asked not to be identified, said. He added the suspects were facing charges of forming a terror group that aimed at damaging the State establishments and harming personal freedoms of citizens. The group, which is believed to have links to al-Qaeda, was also charged with carrying out a deadly armed robbery of a jewellery shop owned by an Egyptian in Zeitoun on May 28, 2008, in which five persons were killed. The suspects confessed to the attack which they said was launched to finance their activities. Mamdouh Ismail, the lawyer of the defendants, clashed with policemen during Sunday's as they banned him from talking to his clients who chanted slogans of innocence and victory over evil upon entering the dock. "The police are abusing the rights of the defendants and mine as their lawyer," Ismail said. The Interior Ministry said the cell was made up of 25 Egyptians, mostly engineers and technicians. Its leader Tamer Mohamed Moussa is Palestinian. They also had contacts with activists in the Gaza Strip. The Ministry said that they had prepared remote controlled detonators and explosive devices to be placed in shipping lanes in the busy Suez Canal. The cell was awaiting instructions from an overseas al-Qaeda operative, the Ministry said. Moreover, one of the suspects in the case announced they had intended to cross into the Gaza Strip to meet up with the Palestinian Islamic Army, loyalists to al-Qaeda, to receive instructions on attacking vital targets in Egypt, it added.
