Egypt has overcome a ‘conspiracy’ against the state, says spokesman

Egypt has overcome a “conspiracy” to bring down the state, a presidential spokesman said late Sunday, amid the government’s ongoing crackdown on members of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporters of ousted President Mohammad Mursi.

“We were facing a funded conspiracy against the state, but we have overcome it and we are now ready to move on to building the future for a modern Egypt,” Ahmad el-Meslemani said in a joint news conference with interim presidential aide for scientific affairs, Essam Heggy, reported Ahram Online.

“Those who attempt to break our army belong in the same garbage bin with the Tatars and the Crusaders,” Meslemani added.

An Egyptian court on Sunday adjourned the trial of Muslim Brotherhood leaders and 32 other Islamist defendants to October 29, because the defendants were absent.

Security officials said they had not appeared in court for security reasons and their trial on inciting the murder of protesters was adjourned minutes after it opened.

The Brotherhood’s general guide Mohammad Badie and two deputies -- Rashad Bayoumi and Khairat al-Shater were due in court.

Badie was taken into custody last week -- the first time a Brotherhood supreme guide has been arrested since 1981.

Shater and Bayoumi were rounded up earlier, following the ouster of Mursi, a fellow Brotherhood member.

They are accused of inciting the murder of protesters who died outside their Cairo headquarters on the evening of June 30, when millions of Egyptians attended anti-Mursi protests.