The first trial of those accused of inciting deadly sectarian clashes in May will begin today in Cairo's Supreme State Security Court. There are 48 defendants. Attorney General Abdel Magid Mahmoud transferred those accused in the Imbaba case to the Supreme State Secutiy Court. They are charged with gathering, murder, attemped murder, inciting sectarian violence, and deliberately setting fire to the Church of the Virgin Mary in Imbaba. On May 7, 2011 violent sectarian clashes erupted in Cairo's poverty-stricken Imbaba neighborhood. Thirteen people were killed, another two died later from their wounds and the Virgin Mary Church was burned.
