A Cairo criminal court sitting in the Fifth Settlement heard the drug-trafficking trial of Mohamed Alaa, known as Ottaka, on 9 November and set 16 December for its verdict.[1][2][3] Ottaka is a TikToker and the ex-husband of blogger Hadeer Abdelrazek, and he is the only defendant in the case.[4] Sada Elbalad carried the same decision, saying the court reserved the case for a verdict on 16 December.[5][6] The court had adjourned the case to the third session of the October term, which fell on 9 November, after an earlier hearing.[7] Prosecutors charge him with trafficking in narcotics rather than use, which carries a heavier penalty if he is convicted.[1][3]
According to the case file, the drugs were about 400 grams of hashish and roughly 12 grams of cocaine; he denies the charges.[1][2] Al-Masry Al-Youm reported the same amounts from the referral papers the day before the hearing.[8] The Interior Ministry said officers arrested him at his home in the Shorouk police-station district of Cairo after complaints about videos it called indecent, and found hashish and cocaine with him.[8][6]
The court ordered the officers who carried out the arrest and search to give evidence, and added the day’s registers of the Shorouk police station and the General Directorate of Information Technology to the file.[1][3] Lawyer Hani Sameh, appearing for the defence, argued that the search procedures were invalid and that the charge was fabricated and the exhibits planted and unconnected to his client.[4][2] The defence said the chain of possession of the exhibits was broken between the seizure, their presentation to the Public Prosecution and their delivery to the laboratory.[4] The defence also argued that the chemical laboratory report alone could not show the tested substance was the material seized from him.[4] It asked the court to summon the official who packed and sealed the exhibits and the forensic chemist, to be questioned on their condition, seals, number, weight and delivery.[4]