A Cairo criminal court is to resume on Tuesday the trial of Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Morsi on charges of inciting the killing of protesters during his presidency. Morsi, who was ousted by the army in July amid huge protests against his year-long rule, is currently facing four separate legal cases. Tuesday's hearing, which will be held amid tight security in a makeshift courtroom in a police academy in eastern Cairo, is the fourth since the trial started in November. Morsi, along with 14 others who include presidential aides and Muslim Brotherhood figures, is accused of inciting the killing of opposition protesters outside the presidential palace in late 2012. Almost a dozen people were killed in the violence during protests triggered by a presidential decree that expanded his powers. The previous session of the trialwas adjourned to allow for further examination of video evidence showing the deadly clashes between Morsi's supporters and opponents in connection with the charges. Other cases against Morsi include charges such as a jailbreak in 2011, colluding with the Palestinian Hamas movement and Lebanon's Hezbollah to carry out a terrorist campaign in Egypt, and insulting the judiciary. The toppled president has consistently refused to recognise the authority of the courts trying him, and has claimed at previous sessions that he is still Egypt's legitimate president. He could face the death penalty if convicted. Egyptian authorities are mounting a sustained crackdown on Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement, which it declared a "terrorist organisation." Much of the group's upper echelons are behind bars and face trials over charges including inciting violence. At least 1,400 people, mostly Islamists, have been killed in clashes with security forces and civilian opponents since Morsi's overthrow on 3 July, according to Amnesty International. Scores of police and soldiers have also been killed in militant attacks that have spread recently from the border Sinai Peninsula to other parts of the country, including Cairo. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/93415.aspx
