CAIRO — Egyptian authorities on Sunday moved the trial of the ousted Islamist president to a new location at another end of the capital, a move apparently aimed at thwarting mass rallies planned by the Muslim Brotherhood in his support when it opens Monday.
Facing charges of incitement of violence with 14 others in connection to clashes in 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 enflaming animosity between Morsi’s Islamist supporters and Egypt’s security establishment.
“For (the Islamists) it will be like taking revenge on the police and the military,” said lawyer Khaled Abu-Bakr, who is representing three victims of the December clashes. “I really hope that no blood is spilled tomorrow.”
The change of venue was announced at a 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 at the change.
The new venue is a heavily fortified police academy in an eastern Cairo suburb, already used for the trial of former President Hosni Mubarak, toppled in a 2011 uprising.
