Giza Criminal Court will resume on Monday trial of 20 Al Jazeera journalists in the case known as the “Marriott Cell”.
Pleading of the defense will be heard and the court has set 23 June to announce the verdict.
The case was nicknamed the Marriott Cell case after the hotel in which the journalists were residing in at the time of arrest.
Prosecution called during the pleading previously for sentencing the foreign suspects to 15 years and the Egyptians to 25 years, according to lawyer of the Egyptian journalist Mohamed Fadel Fahmy who told AFP.
Three journalists who work for Al Jazeera English are being tried including the Egyptian-Canadian Fadel, Australian Peter Greste and the Egyptian Baher Mohamed. They have been detained for more than 150 days. Other foreign journalists who work for Al Jazeera are tried in absentia.
The Egyptian suspects face charges of joining illegal group and publishing false news. Foreign suspects are accused of assisting the Egyptian suspects in their crimes through providing them with the materials and posting them through Al Jazeera channel and website. Nine suspects are kept in custody, while other 11 are tried in absentia.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
