CAIRO: The Hezbollah cell trial, which was in session on Saturday, was adjourned until Oct. 28 to give the defense committee time to examine the evidence presented by the prosecution. Lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud, who is representing some of the detainees in the case, told Daily News Egypt, "We are currently studying the evidence; during Wednesday's session the video tapes presented by the prosecution in which the defendants are allegedly meeting will be shown in court. The evidence presented includes video tapes in which the defendants allegedly confess to belonging to a Hezbollah cell in Egypt, as well listing the places where they regularly met. Photographs of the meetings and the rent contracts of apartments they have been using were also submitted as evidence. "If time permits on Wednesday, the testimonies of the witnesses will also be heard, Abdel-Maqsoud said. The twenty-six people on trial are accused of operating a Hezbollah-led cell on Egyptian soil, 22 of which are currently detained in Egypt. The main suspect at large is Mohamed Qublan, the Hezbollah intelligence officer whom Egypt accuses of masterminding the cell along with Sami Shihab, who is in custody. The detainees are accused of plotting terrorist attacks in Egypt at the behest of Hezbollah, as well as targeting vessels passing through the Suez Canal, according to the Prosecutor General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud. The Lebanese Shia group insists that the cell was meant to provide support to Hamas across the border in Gaza and had no plans of carrying out any attacks in Egypt. The trial began Aug. 23 at the State Security Emergency Criminal Court in the Fifth Settlement on the outskirts of Cairo.
