(AFP File Photo)
Ousted President Mohamed Morsi will begin standing trial on 4 November, according to state-owned MENA.
The former president, who has been detained in undisclosed locations since his ouster on 3 July, will stand trial on 4 November with 14 other Muslim Brotherhood members for their alleged connection to violence that occurred last December in front of the Presidential Palace.
In September, Morsi was referred by the General Prosecution to Criminal Court for an alleged role in the clashes that occurred on the evening of 5 December. His bureau manager Ahmed Abdel Atty, his assistant Ayman Abdel Raouf, former Deputy Chief of Staff Asaad El Sheikha, Deputy Chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) Essam El-Erian, senior FJP member Mohamed Al-Beltagy, conservative preacher Wagdi Ghoneim, and activists Abdel Rahman Ezz, Ahmed Al-Mogheer and Alaa Hamza were also referred to court for the same case last month.
Clashes erupted on 5 December at the Presidential Palace when a protest called for by the Muslim Brotherhood sparked violence with anti-Morsi protesters who had begun a sit-in outside the palace walls. At least five were killed in the violence and over 700 were injured.
Following the bloodshed then President Morsi addressed the public saying he would not allow the former regime to return “under any circumstances” and condemned the use of violence. However, anti-Brotherhood parties and forces held him responsible for the violent escalation, blaming the Muslim Brotherhood for attacking pre-existing sit-ins at the palace in the Cairo neighbourhood of Heliopolis.
