Cairo - MENA
Cairo Criminal Court has adjourned until November 30 the trial of 131 defendants, including deposed president Mohamed Morsi, on charges of prison break.
Standing the trial with Morsi are a number of Muslim Brotherhood leaders, as well as elements of Hamas and Hezbullah.
The court decided Wednesday to delay the trial to hear pleadings.
All 131 defendants are accused of breaking out of jail during the January 25 uprising with the help of Hamas and Hezbullah operatives.
Of all 131 defendants, only 22 are attending the trial. The rest are being tried in absentia.
More than 70 of those tried in absentia are Palestinians. Other fugitives are from the Palestinian movement of Hamas and Hezbullah of Lebanon.
Most of the fugitives from Hamas and Hezbullah are accused of collaborating with a number of Takfiri Bedouins in Sinai to undermine state stability and sovereignty in the wake of the January 25 Revolution, as stated in the prosecution statement.
The Palestinian fugitives had sneaked into the country through illegal tunnels with RPGs and machine guns on them and were able to take control of 60 kilometers of the border line with Gaza.
They then traveled in three groups toward the prisons of Marg, Abu Zaabal and Wadi el-Natroun to smuggle their detained elements, according to the statement.
They were able to set free more than 20,000 detainees of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as takfiris and other criminals, after destroying prison walls and setting fire to all three jails.