Giza Criminal Court decided on Tuesday to adjourn the trial of former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and two other former officials in the “forced labor” case until 1 October to implement a request by the defense.
Tuesday, the court began the trial of Adly, Major General Hassan Abdel Hamid, and the head of his security detail, Colonel Ahmed Bassel, for profiteering and wasting public money by forcing security recruits to work for them privately.
Mohamed Maneei, the assistant justice minister for court affairs, said on Monday that the suspects’ trial will be held on Tuesday before the Criminal Court at Police Academy.
Public prosecution’s investigations showed that Adly had forced around 150 recruits to work at his two farms and a third one belonging to Colonel Bassel for three years.
Investigations also revealed that the recruits had constructed two villas with swimming pools for Adly in 6 October City and a third one for Bassel. However, Adly said that he thought the recruits were workers at a contracting company and that he paid for them. He also accused Abdel Hamid of being responsible for this and that he paid him all the workers’ payments.
Adly was previously sentenced to life in prison for killing protesters. He was also sentenced to 17 years in jail for financial corruption.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
