CAIRO: Adel Moawad, a member of the defense team in the Ithadeya events, told Youm7 on Monday that 20 defense lawyers will attend the trial, scheduled for Jan. 8.
Eleven of these lawyers officially comprise the defense team while the remaining nine are to attend in solidarity with the defendants.
Moawad said the defense team will ask the court to meet the ousted president Mohamed Morsi for a short period to persuade him to assign a defense team for himself. Should Morsi refuse, the defense team will represent all defendants other than the former president, he added.
He explained that the defense team decided to challenge the jurisdiction of the court in prosecuting Morsi. He pointed out that they will refer to article 153 of the suspended constitution which states that any former president must be prosecuted in a special court.
Moawad said that the defense team will meet the defendants before the session to discuss their strategy.
He said that the defense team will meet to distribute the tasks among it before the session and determine who will be responsible for which defendant before the court.
