Cairo’s criminal court explained on Wednesday its reasons for acquitting all the defendants in the infamous “Battle of the Camel” which took place on February 2, 2012 in Tahrir Square, stating that the testimonies of the witnesses who filed the case against the 24 defendants were not reassuring.

The witnesses’ testimonies were all hearsays and were born of grudges between the defendants and the witnesses due to partisan disputes and because of parliamentary elections, the court said.

According to the court, some witnesses were criminals according to their criminal status record.

There was not a single eyewitness whose testimony was reassuring, the court added.

The court stated that it was reassured by the testimony of Major General Hassan al-Roweini, member of the military council, who said that he did not witness any dead protesters in the square and that there were no weapons with the criminals who were caught in the square and were tried in military courts in 2011.

The court inspected the legal documents and records and reached the conclusion that the evidence was insufficient to convict the defendants.

The list of the 24 acquitted defendants included prominent figures in the dissolved National Democratic Party including Safwat al-Sherif, Ahmed Fathi Sorour, Ragab Helal Hemeda, Mohamed Abul Einein, Aisha Abdel Hadi and lawyer Mortada Mansour.