Defendants in Egypt camel-borne assault found not guilty

On Wednesday, all of the 24 defendants, who are loyalists of ousted Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, were found not guilty after the court "did not find any material evidence to convict” them, Reuters reported.

    Fathi Sorour, the former speaker in the lower house of the Egyptian parliament, and Safwat al-Sherif, the former head of the parliament’s upper house, were among the defendants, accused of sending men on horseback and camels to attack protesters at Cairo’s Tahrir Square on February 2, 2011.


The two former officials, however, will remain in prison on corruption charges.

The bloody crackdown, dubbed "the battle of the camel", created chaos in the area and drew more crowds to join the anti-regime protests.

Human rights activists expressed outrage at the court's decision.