The 25 alleged terrorists arrested in what has since become known as the case of the "Mansoura cell" denied ownership of weapons that security services claim to have seized from them. One of the accused, however, identified a single gun as belonging to him.
A lawyer for the defense said that formal investigation of his clients began two months after their arrest, meaning they should be released. He also said that the alleged weapons seizures had been "manipulated," and that the court had twice ordered the defendants release but that the Interior Ministry had failed to carry out the order.
The defendants, who have been charged with planning terrorist attacks against Americans and Israelis in Egypt, say that prosecutors tried to force them to sign confessions but that they refused.
The defendants say they all met each other for the first time in police custody, and that they never had any links to local or international terrorist organizations, going on to assert that they would never cause harm to their homeland.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
