Egypt Resumes Trial of Muslim Brotherhood Leaders Accused of Terrorism

Muslim Brotherhood supreme guide Mohammed Badih, AP
Muslim Brotherhood supreme guide Mohammed Badih, AP
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Egypt Resumes Trial of Muslim Brotherhood Leaders Accused of Terrorism

Muslim Brotherhood supreme guide Mohammed Badih, AP
Muslim Brotherhood supreme guide Mohammed Badih, AP

Next week, the trial sessions of several leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egyptian authorities classify as a terrorist organization, will resume in Egypt.

On May 10, the Emergency State Security Court in Egypt will complete the trial of Muslim Brotherhood supreme guide Mohammed Badih, Mahmoud Ezzat and 77 other leaders from the organization.

The defendants face charges of “providing the Muslim Brotherhood with material aid and orchestrating a gathering with the purpose of committing premeditated murder in implementation of a (terrorist) purpose.”

The Public Prosecution charged the defendants with “committing murder, attempted murder for the purpose of terrorism, possession of firearms and ammunition without a license, possession of cold weapons, possession of explosives, assembly with the aim of disrupting state authorities from performing their work, thuggery, blocking roads, displaying force in order to intimidate citizens, sabotage, deliberately destroy public and private property, and deliberately setting fires to public and government facilities.”

Investigations revealed that “the defendants incited protesters to gather on and block the Nasr Road (east of Cairo).”

Besides disrupting transportation on Nasr Road, demonstrators were incited to set fire to a conference hall nearby, which led to the burning of the garden attached to the premise.

“The defendants assumed leadership of a group founded in violation of the provisions of the law,” Public Prosecution said last June.

The Prosecution added that the purpose of forming the organization is to incite public disorder, prevent state institutions and public authorities from carrying out their duties, and attack the personal freedom of citizens.

Next week, the Cairo Criminal Court will also issue its ruling in the retrial of 37 defendants in the case known in the media as the “Rabaa sit-in.”

The court had earlier sentenced to death 75 defendants, including Brotherhood leaders Mohamed El-Beltagy, Essam El-Erian and Abdel-Rahman El-Bar.



Mother of Missing Journalist Austin Tice Says Trump Team Offered Help in Search 

Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, meets with Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Damascus, Syria, January 19, 2025. (Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham/Handout via Reuters)
Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, meets with Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Damascus, Syria, January 19, 2025. (Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham/Handout via Reuters)
TT

Mother of Missing Journalist Austin Tice Says Trump Team Offered Help in Search 

Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, meets with Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Damascus, Syria, January 19, 2025. (Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham/Handout via Reuters)
Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, meets with Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Damascus, Syria, January 19, 2025. (Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham/Handout via Reuters)

The mother of American journalist Austin Tice made her first visit to Syria in almost a decade Monday and said that the administration of President-elect Donald Trump had offered support to help find her son, who disappeared in 2012.

Debra Tice made the remarks at a news conference in Damascus in her first visit to the country since insurgents toppled President Bashar al-Assad last month. She did not present any new findings in the ongoing search.

Austin Tice disappeared near the Syrian capital in 2012, and has not been heard from since other than a video released weeks later that showed him blindfolded and held by armed men. Tens of thousands are believed to have gone missing in Syria since 2011, when countrywide protests against Assad spiraled into a devastating civil war.

Outgoing US President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House in December that he believes Washington can bring Tice back, while admitting that “we have no direct evidence” of his well-being.

“I have great hope that the Trump administration will sincerely engage in diligent work to bring Austin home.” Tice said. “His people have already reached out to me. I haven’t experienced that for the last four years.”

Syria's former government had publicly denied that it was holding him, but Tice hopes she will find him with the help of the new leadership. In December, she said the family had information from an unidentified source that her son was alive and well. She said Monday she still believes he is alive and in good health.

“Austin, if you can somehow hear this, I love you. I know you’re not giving up, and neither am I,” she said.

Tice said she had a productive meeting with Ahmad al-Sharaa, the leader of Syria’s new administration, who she said was “dedicated and determined” to bring back Austin and the others missing in the country.

She also visited two military intelligence prisons in Syria, known for their mass incarceration and systematic use of torture, which she described as an “unbelievably, horrible nightmare.”

Tice, who is from Houston, has had his work published by The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and other outlets.