Egypt’s Mursi to stand trial over violence

Egypt’s public prosecutor referred deposed President Mohammad Mursi to trial on Sunday on charges of committing and inciting violence, the state news agency reported.

The prosecutor, Hesham Barakat, referred Mursi and 14 other Muslim Brotherhood members to a Cairo criminal court on charges “of committing acts of violence, and inciting the killing and thuggery,” the state news agency reported, according to Reuters.

The charges relate to violence outside the presidential palace last December, after Mursi had ignited protesters’ rage by expanding his powers, reported Reuters.

Mursi is also being investigated over his escape from jail during the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak. He is accused of murder and conspiring with the Palestinian group Hamas during the prison break, though no formal charges have been brought in that case.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is ramping up calls for nationwide protests, urging people to take to the streets against the new military-backed government, reported The Associated Press.

In a pre-recorded message aired late Wednesday on Al-Jazeera, top Brotherhood figure Essam el-Erian called on people to rise against the “failed, bloody military regime.”

The Interior Ministry says its police forces are on high alert in preparation for the protests, which have turned deadly.


(With Reuters and The Associated Press)