Egypt sets Jan. 28 for ousted Morsi's 3rd trial

CAIRO — An Egyptian court Thursday set Jan. 28 as opening day for the third trial of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, this one on charges of organizing prison breaks with the help of foreign militants, a judge said.

Symbolically, the trial date falls on the third anniversary of the day when Morsi and more than 30 others from his Muslim Brotherhood group, who were jailed at the time, escaped from a Cairo prison.

The jailbreaks came during the 2011 uprising against Morsi's predecessor, the autocratic Hosni Mubarak, and saw more than 20,000 inmates flee from prisons across Egypt, including members of foreign militant groups the Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian militant Hamas.

That Jan. 28, 2011, dubbed the Day of Rage for mass protests against Mubarak's notorious police, also marked the collapse of the regime's security apparatus as policemen withdrew from the streets.

Judge Medhat Idriss said Thursday that the Cairo Appeals Court set Jan. 28 as the date for the trial, though it was not immediately clear whether the date's symbolism was intentional.

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