The Cairo Criminal Court starts today (July 2) its first session in the trial of Michael ‘Ādil Najīb and Michael Mus’ad Shākir, the two defendants in the October 9 clashes outside the state radio & TV building in the area of Maspero, which left dozens of people killed or wounded.

The examining judges on the case, led by Counselor Tharwat Hammād, had referred the suspects to the criminal court on charges of stealing, hiding and unlicensed possession of a machine-gun owned by the armed forces but could not proved their involvement on charges of incitation. [Amīr Hazzā’, al-Ahrām, July 2, p. 22] Read original text in Arabic