
Former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi (Photo: Reuters)
The trial of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi will begin on 4 November, judicial sources said on Wednesday.
Morsi, seven other senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist figures will be tried for the killing and torturing of demonstrators outside the presidential palace in Cairo on 5 December 2012.
At least ten were killed in clashes when thousands took to the streets in protest at a constitutional decree that granted Morsi sweeping new powers.
Senior Brotherhood figure Mohamed El-Beltagi and Essam El-Erian, deputy head of the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood's political arm, are among the co-defendants in the trial.
Brotherhood leaders allegedly summoned civilian supporters to attack their opponents camping outside the palace, and deadly clashes between both sides ensued.
The defendants are being prosecuted regarding the "premeditated murder of journalist Husseini Abu Deif, along with two others," as well as "detaining and physically torturing sixty others inside Ittihadiya presidential palace," read a court statement.
Morsi, who also faces charges related to his escape from prison during the 2011 revolution, has been held at a secret location since his ouster by the army on 3 July following millions-strong protests against his rule.
In July, a court ordered Morsi's detention for questioning over his alleged collusion with Palestinian militants in prison breaks and attacks on police during the revolution.
Security forces have mounted a broad crackdown on Morsi's Brotherhood since his deposition. It has arrested most of the movement's upper echelon, including its highest authority, Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie. More than 2,000 other Islamists have been rounded up over the past two months.
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