Mursi’s Trial Resumes as Tension Escalates

Local Editor

The murder trial of deposed Egyptian leader Mohammed Mursi is due to resume in Cairo Saturday, after he insisted at a separate hearing that he was still the legitimate president.

His trial is seen as a test for Egypt's military-installed authorities, who have come under fire for a heavy-handed crackdown on his supporters after he was forced out last July.

A coalition backing the deposed leader called for nationwide protests Saturday in a statement to "support the legitimate elected president."

Saturday's hearing at a heavily guarded police academy is the third session in the trial, in which Mursi and 14 others are accused of inciting the killing of opposition protesters in December 2012 outside the presidential palace.
The previous session of the trial had been adjourned over "weather conditions" that prevented Mursi's transport to court from prison.

Mursi is facing four separate trials, and at the first hearing of another trial on January 28 the former President insisted he was still the legitimate president of Egypt.

In that trial, Mursi and 130 other co-defendants face charges of breaking out of prison during the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak three-decade rule.
Mursi, whose Muslim Brotherhood won a series of polls after Mubarak's ouster and who became Egypt's first freely elected leader in June 2012, was ousted a year later by the army after massive protests against him.

Months of bloodshed has reduced chances of political reconciliation in the Arab world's most populous nation as it prepares for a presidential vote to be held by mid-April.

The vote is expected to see Egypt's army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, run for the presidency.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team