Egypt sends 230 people to military court for 2013 protests

A public prosecutor in Egypt has referred 230 protesters to military court for trial on charges of stirring up violence during sit-ins in the wake of former President Mohamed Morsi’s military ouster in July 2013.

The prosecutor from Egypt’s southern province of Beni Suef made the decision on Wednesday. The defendants will be tried on charges of killing a police officer, attempted murder, torching and damaging public properties, storming the Beni Suef governorate headquarters, and joining the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Tensions intensified in the North African country after July 3, 2013 when the Egyptian army, led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the country’s current president and then army chief, removed Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected president, from office. The army also suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament.

An Egyptian riot police officer points his gun at stone-throwing protesters during clashes near the Rabaa al-Adawiya Mosque in Cairo, August 14, 2013.

On August 14, 2013, hundreds of people were killed and thousands of others wounded as violence erupted nationwide, including in Beni Suef, when security forces moved in to disperse Morsi supporters who demanded his reinstatement. The massacre sparked international condemnation and prompted world bodies to call for an independent investigation into the violence.

The new Egyptian government has also blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. It also launched a brutal crackdown on Morsi supporters, sentencing many of them to death.

This comes as the former dictator, Hosni Mubarak and a few of his senior officials have been acquitted of all charges.