CAIRO (Dispatches) – Egypt’s ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, has arrived at a court on the outskirts of Cairo to stand trial over charges of breaking out of prison during the 2011 revolution.
Morsi arrived at the court on Tuesday after being transported by helicopter from Borg al-Arab Prison in Alexandria, Egypt’s state news agency reported.
Some 130 others also accused of prison break during the 2011 revolution against former dictator Hosni Mubarak were transported to Cairo by car.
The trial held under tight security in a provisional courtroom at a police academy on the outskirts of the capital will resume on February 1.
The case has been delayed twice since it was opened in November of last year.
Morsi is already on trial in a separate case on charges of inciting violence against anti-government protests.
The ousted president has also been implicated in two other cases, one for alleged espionage and conspiracy charges due to open on February 16, and the other for insulting the judiciary for which a date has yet to be set. Morsi rejects all charges considering himself as the legitimate president of Egypt.
Egypt has been experiencing unrelenting violence since July 3, 2013, when the army ousted Morsi, suspended the constitution, and dissolved the parliament. It also appointed the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mahmoud Mansour, as the interim president.
The interim government has launched a bloody crackdown on Morsi’s supporters and arrested thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members.
Amnesty International says 1,400 people have been killed in the political violence since July 2013, “most of them due to excessive force used by security forces.”
Interior Ministry Official Hit
Gunmen have shot dead a senior Egyptian Interior Ministry official outside his home in the capital, Cairo.
Security sources said General Mohamed Saeed died in hospital on Tuesday after being shot in his head and chest. The assailants fled the scene of the attack, the sources added.
“General Mohamed Saeed, head of the technical office of the minister of interior, was targeted by gunmen inside a car who shot him and fled,” said one of the sources, whose name was not mentioned in the report.
Egypt’s Interior Ministry has confirmed the death of Saeed, who was an aide to Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim.
The interior minister himself survived an assassination attempt last year.
Egypt’s ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, arrives at a court on the outskirts of Cairo to stand trial.
