(AFP PHOTO / TAREK EL-GABASS)
The Cairo Criminal Court, which held the hearing at the Police Academy for security concerns, postponed the trial one day in order to complete hearing witness testimonies. The trial is under a gag order put in place by the bench.
Morsi and 14 other former government officials and Islamist figures face charges relating to violent clashes that took place in December 2012 around the presidential palace in Heliopolis. Among the accused are Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badie, Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) Chairman Saad Al-Katatny, ultraconservative preacher Wagdy Ghoneim, and senior FJP member Mohamed Al-Beltagy.
The 15 defendants are accused of inciting to kill protesters.
Morsi faces charges in separate cases for espionage, a 2011 prison break, and insulting the judiciary. The espionage and prison break cases, which both also involve prominent Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist figures, are underway.
There has been no trial date set for Morsi’s insulting the judiciary case, in which he stands accused with 25 journalists, politicians, and activists.
Badie was handed a preliminary death sentence last month along with over 600 others relating to charges of violence in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Minya following Morsi’s overthrow.
