Egypt to hold mass trial of Mursi supporters

More than 1,200 supporters of ousted President Mohammad Mursi are set to go on trial Saturday facing charges of committing violence during a police crackdown on two protests sites in Cairo last August.

Among the defendants in the trial, dubbed as the largest in Egypt’s history, will be the general guide of Mursi's now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie, sources told Agence France-Presse.

The trial to be held in Minya, south of the capital, will investigate alleged attacks by Mursi supporters against individuals and public property in southern Egypt back in August.

Erupted violence

The violence erupted after authorities broke up two pro-Mursi protest camps in Cairo’s al-Nahda Square and Rabaa al-Adawiya Square.

Hundreds of people died in the assault on those camps and in subsequent clashes that day.

Amnesty International says at least 1,400 people were killed in those clashes and in violence since then, while thousands more have been arrested.

Mursi, who was deposed in July last year by the military after a popular uprising, is himself is on trial in three different cases, including one for inciting the killing of protesters outside a presidential palace during his tumultuous one year in power.

(With AFP)