Khaberni - The New Cairo Criminal Court, on Thursday, suspended the trial session of the defendant Sara Khalifa and 27 other defendants in the well-known media case of «the major drug case», to allow a break period.
During the break time, the courtroom witnessed Sara Khalifa performing the Asr prayer inside the dock, a scene that caught the attention of the attendees before resuming the case consideration.
In terms of pleadings, the court listened to the defense of Sara Khalifa’s brother, who began his pleading by affirming the innocence of his client, based on the forensic report, and stating that the confessions attributed to him were – according to his statement – made under coercion, demanding an investigation into this matter.
The defense also argued the invalidity of the statement attributed to the seventh defendant, asserting that it was made during apprehension and under physical coercion, which deprives it of legal legitimacy. The defense continued its arguments by challenging the integrity of the investigations, pointing out what he described as clear shortcomings and bias, due to not considering the evidence presented by the defendant and his defense, and merely adopting the prosecution's narrative contained in the arrest and investigation report from the beginning of the investigations.
The defense clarified that the arrest of the seventh defendant was made – according to his statement – before the issuance of a warrant from the public prosecution, which constitutes a violation of his rights as guaranteed by the Constitution and the law, and undermines the presumption of innocence. Based on this, he requested the annulment of the arrest and investigation procedures, and anything resulting from the referral and the referral order, pointing out that the legal violations involved in the procedures necessitate their complete exclusion from the lawsuit.
