Egypt deploys 2,000 policemen to secure Morsi trial venue

Morsi faces charges of inciting the murder of protesters outside Cairo's Ittihadiya presidential palace in December 2012

CAIRO

Egyptian authorities have deployed more than 2,000 policemen and 30 armored vehicles to secure the third session of ousted president Mohamed Morsi's trial on charges of instigating the killing of opposition protesters while still in office.

Morsi – along with 14 other defendants, including several other high-ranking Muslim Brotherhood officials – face charges of inciting the murder of protesters outside Cairo's Ittihadiya presidential palace in December 2012.

Seven of the trial defendants are being tried in absentia.

According to an Anadolu Agency reporter, riot police and armored vehicles have been deployed around the trial venue in the Police Academy in Cairo.

A two-kilometer zone has been created around the academy and people holding security permits were allowed into the area.

Morsi was removed from office – and subsequently imprisoned – by Egypt's military last July following protests against his presidency.

He did not show up to a second trial session on January 8. At the time, security officials cited "bad weather" as the reason for their apparent failure to transfer Morsi to the trial venue in Cairo.

Former presidential aspirant Mohamed Selim al-Awa, working on Morsi's behalf, is expected to challenge the court's jurisdiction to try the ousted president.

In previous court sessions, Morsi has insisted that he still represents Egypt's legitimate president, refusing to recognize the trial's legitimacy.

Mohamed al-Damati, a spokesman for lawyers representing other defendants in the same case, told reporters earlier that Morsi had asked al-Awa to challenge the court's jurisdiction to try him.

Under Egyptian law, the court must provide a criminal defendant with a lawyer if the defendant fails to do so. Presiding judges are therefore expected to insist that Morsi formally take on legal representation.

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