Egypt's Morsi trial adjourned to March 1

CAIRO - Agence France-Presse

Egyptian security forces stand guard outside the Police Academy in Cairo where a new hearing in the murder trial of Egypt's ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi opened on February 4, 2014. AFP Photo

An Egyptian court on Wednesday adjourned the murder trial of ousted president Mohamed Morsi to March 1, to review video evidence against the Islamist.
 
Morsi and 14 co-defendants, some of them former aides, are charged with inciting the killings of opposition protesters outside the presidential palace in December 2012.
 
The court also postponed witness testimony scheduled for Wednesday's session, after Morsi's defence requested more time to prepare for cross examination.
 
One of the witnesses was head of the military unit tasked with protecting the president at the time of the clashes.
 
Morsi was present in the court, inside a soundproof glass dock to prevent him from interrupting proceedings with defiant outbursts, as he had done in previous hearings.
 
He insisted in previous hearings that he was still Egypt's legitimate president and challenged the legitimacy of the court.
 
In the hearing on March 1, the court will review a report on video footage of the December 5, 2012 clashes between Morsi's supporters and opponents.
 
At least seven people were killed in the violence.
 
Morsi faces four separate trials, on charges ranging from contempt of the judiciary to plotting an elaborate conspiracy involving Iran and Palestinian militants to conduct attacks in Egypt.
 
He could be sentenced to death if convicted on several of the charges, which include collusion with foreign groups and incitement to murder.
 
His supporters say the military-installed regime has brought trumped-up charges.
 
Since his overthrow in July, Morsi's once powerful Muslim Brotherhood movement is in disarray, blacklisted as a terrorist group with most of its leaders in prison.
 
More than 1,000 people, mostly Islamists, have been killed in violence since Morsi's ouster.
 
During his year in power, after the country's first free presidential elections, Morsi faced growing resentment and accusations that his Islamist group was monopolising power.
 
In December 2012, Morsi's supporters dispersed opposition activists camped outside the palace in protest at a decree granting the president extra-judicial powers, sparking day-long clashes.
 
Brotherhood activists detained dozens of opposition protesters and filmed themselves beating the protesters to extract confessions, which Morsi later cited in a speech.