Islamists call demos to mark Morsi ouster

Source:Agencies Published: 2013-9-3 1:08:01

Egyptian Islamists backing ousted president Mohamed Morsi have called for demonstrations across the country on Tuesday, two months since he was toppled by the military.

The call comes a day after Egypt's interim president Adly Mansour announced a panel to draw up a revised constitution but without the inclusion of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, which rejected taking part.

Morsi is to stand trial in a criminal court for "incitement to murder," state television reported on Sunday, without giving a date for the trial.

It said the former leader would stand trial along with 14 other suspects in his Muslim Brotherhood movement on charges of "incitement to murder and violence" in December 2012 when deadly clashes broke out between his supporters and opponents outside the presidential palace.

In a statement issued early on Monday, the Anti-Coup Alliance which is led by the Brotherhood said Tuesday's demonstrations would be held under the slogan: "The coup is terrorism," to mark Morsi's July 3 ouster.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the main group organizing the protests, has lost its ability to mobilize supporters in large numbers because of sweeping arrests which have netted its top leaders among at least 2,000 Islamists detained since August 14.

Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, served for only a year before the military ousted him in the popularly backed coup.

On Sunday, Mansour announced a 50-member panel to draw up a revised constitution.

The constitutional panel has 60 days to submit a final version of the revised charter to the interim president, who in turn has 30 days to announce the date of a referendum.

An Egyptian judicial panel advised a court to dissolve the Muslim Brotherhood as a legally registered non-governmental organization on Monday, posing a legal challenge to the group as the army-backed government presses a crackdown.

The case brought by Brotherhood opponents is seeking the dissolution of the NGO registered by the movement in March. The court hearing the case set its next session for November 12, judicial sources said. The movement formally registered itself as an NGO in response to a lawsuit that argued that it had no legal status.



Posted in: Mid-East

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