Egyptian Court: Hamas, Hezbollah & Al-Qaeda Implicated in 2011 Jailbreak That Freed Morsi

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi (Photo: Khaed Desouki/AFP/Getty Images)

Would the Muslim Brotherhood have control over Egypt without the help of Hamas, Hezbollah, and al-Qaeda?

According to an Egyptian court, President Mohammed Morsi might still be in jail if not for their help.

Morsi was one of thirty-four senior Muslim Brotherhood leaders who escaped from the Wadi El-Natroun prison during the "Arab Spring" revolution of 2011.  The group has claimed they were helped by "local residents," but Judge Khaled Mahgoub ruled Sunday that they were assisted by foreign terrorist organizations with machine guns mounted on SUVs and equipment powerful enough to demolish walls and gates.

They "violated the sovereignty of the Egyptian state and its territory in addition to spreading chaos throughout the republic," the judge stated, adding that their actions led to the release of "thousands of prisoners who are a danger to society.”

Roughly 23,000 prisoners in total escaped from Egypt's prisons during the revolution, contributing to the country's skyrocketing crime rate.

According to Al-Ahram, the court has made the extraordinary decision of calling on Interpol to arrest the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Al-Qaeda now living in the Sinai Peninsula for their alleged roles in the escape.

The court has passed along its evidence to the prosecutor-general's office with the request that those who escaped be questioned, but Egypt's Minister of Parliamentary Affairs has already made it clear that the ruling -- true or not -- will have no impact on Morsi's presidency.

He said Morsi could only be suspended from his post if one third of MPs the country's Lower House of Representatives make a written request, before pointing out that the body was controversially dissolved in June of 2012.

The Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice party, further declared the court statement to be "void and illegal." It wrote on Twitter that Mahgoub "will end like any other judge who did not respect the law or the constitution."

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