Egypt Changes Venue for Trial Of Ousted President
Egyptian authorities moved the trial of the ousted Islamist president to a new location at another end of the capital on Sunday, a move apparently aimed at thwarting mass rallies planned by the Muslim Brotherhood in his support when it opens on Monday.
Facing charges of incitement of violence with 14 others in connection with clashes last December, Mohammed Morsi has been held at an undisclosed location since his July 3 overthrow by the military. The trial will be his first public appearance since then, possibly inflaming an already tense political atmosphere as animosity between Morsi’s Islamist supporters and Egypt’s security establishment steadily deepens.
“For [the Islamists] it will be like taking revenge on the police and the military,” said lawyer Khaled Abu-Bakr, representing three victims of the December clashes. “I really hope that no blood is spilled tomorrow.”
The change of venue was announced at a tumultuous news conference by appeals court judge Medhat Idris, who threw his statement in the air and stormed out of the room when Morsi supporters shouted in protest.
The new venue is a heavily fortified police academy in an eastern Cairo suburb, already used for the trial of another former president, Hosni Mubarak, toppled in a 2011 uprising.
This article appeared in print on page 2 of edition of Hamodia.
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