Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood Members to Stand Trial for Inciting Murder and Violence
Former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi is set to stand trial along with 14 other Muslim Brotherhood members on November 4 for inciting murder and violence during his leadership of the country.
The charge is related to an incident on December 5, 2012, when Morsi allegedly called Muslim Brotherhoods supporters to rally against anti-government protests outside the Ittihadiya presidential palace in Cairo, which resulted in the deaths of 10 people and hundreds of others injured, according to BBC News.
Morsi, along with the 14 other defendants from the Brotherhood, are expected to be tried before a criminal court, after a ruling by the Cairo Appeals Court on Wednesday.
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The former Egyptian president has been held in detention in an undisclosed location since July 3 following his ousting, which has led to violent clashes between Muslim Brotherhood supporters and interim government forces. Over 600 were killed in a particularly violent week in August when Islamic protesters were driven from their camps in Cairo and other large cities.
Christians also faced the ire of Islamic protesters who blamed them for supporting the movement that brought down Morsi, with angry mobs backed by the Muslim Brotherhood burning down a number of churches, monasteries and Christian schools.
The violent attacks prompted the American Center for Law and Justice to start a petition urging President Barack Obama to make sure foreign aid given to Egypt comes with the condition that Christians are protected from the hands of Muslim-Brotherhood backed Islamists.
"Seventy churches shouldn't be burned down throughout Egypt. That's happening because the military is not yet willing to stand in the way," Jordan Sekulow, ACLJ executive director, said in a phone interview with The Christian Post in August.
"Words are not enough. Yes, the United States – when we speak, it's powerful, but what also makes us powerful is the amount of funding we provide to the world and I think this is one of the opportunities we have to at least give this Muslim majority population and military, which we've had a pretty good relationship with, the opportunity to do the right thing."
Accounts from Egypt have suggested that the Islamic attackers have indeed been pushed back in the last couple of months, though it is not certain how long peace will last. The interim government has gone after Islamic members inciting the violence, though Coptic Christians have noted that the efforts are more focused on countering the Islamic threat to the government rather than helping them.
Many in Egypt have blamed the country's economic and social troubles on Morsi's failed leadership, who will now be standing trial much like his predecessor Hosni Mubarak, who was charged for premeditated murder of protestors during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
