Morsi ‘Killing Protesters’ Trial Postponed to 5 February

The trial of Egyptian ousted president Mohamed Morsi alongside 14 other defendants on charges of inciting murder at the Ittihadiya Presidential Palace in December 2012 has been adjourned to next day on 5 February.

North Cairo Criminal Court will begin hearing testimonies in the murder trial of the deposed President from Wednesday, when a former top military officer will give evidence.

In the brief session on Tuesday, the court decided to convene again on Wednesday to hear testimony from the former head of the military’s Republican Guard, the unit tasked with providing security for Egypt’s presidents.

Morsi and 14 co-defendants, including former aides, are accused of inciting the killing of opposition activists outside the presidential palace in December 2012, an incident that hastened his overthrow by the military almost seven months later.

Morsi was present in the court, inside a soundproof glass dock to prevent him from interrupting proceedings with defiant outbursts, as he had done in previous hearings.

He had insisted in past hearings that he is still the legitimate president.

Morsi faces four separate trials, on charges ranging from contempt of the judiciary to plotting an elaborate conspiracy involving Iran and Palestinian militants to conduct attacks in Egypt.

Since his overthrow in July, Morsi’s once powerful Muslim Brotherhood movement is in disarray, blacklisted as a terrorist group with most of its leaders in prison.

More than 1000 people, mostly Islamists, have been killed in violence since Morsi’s ouster.