Egypt court sets Mursi trial verdict for April 21

An Egyptian court is to deliver a verdict on April 21 in the trial of ousted president Mohammad Mursi and 14 others charged with inciting the killing of protesters, judicial officials said Thursday.

The ruling will be the first against Mursi, who is facing several trials along with top leaders of his Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement on charges that are punishable by death.

The trials are part of a crackdown by the authorities against supporters of Mursi since he was toppled by then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is now president, in July 2013.

The scheduled April 21 ruling by a Cairo criminal court concerns the alleged killing of at least 10 anti-Mursi protesters in clashes outside the capital’s Itihadiya presidential palace on December 5, 2012, judicial officials said.

Clashes erupted between pro- and anti-Mursi groups when demonstrators gathered to protest against a presidential decree giving vast powers to the then-president.

Mursi’s co-defendants include top Muslim Brotherhood leaders Mohamed al-Beltagy and Essam al-Erian.

Eight of the 15 defendants are in custody, while the rest are on the run.

Mursi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, is also facing two other trials over charges of espionage and escaping from prison.

Since his overthrow, a government crackdown on his supporters has left more than 1,400 people dead, most of them in August 2013 when police broke up two pro-Mursi protest camps in Cairo.

Thousands of Mursi supporters have been imprisoned, while dozens were sentenced to death after speedy trials which the United Nations has called “unprecedented in recent history”.

Mursi was removed from power by Sisi after millions protested against his one-year rule, accusing him of monopolizing power and ruining an already dilapidated economy.

Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood swept all elections after veteran leader Hosni Mubarak was ousted in early 2011 up until Mursi’s overthrow, but the movement has been declared a terrorist organization and banned from political activities.