MORSI TRIAL DELAYED DUE TO 'BAD WEATHER'

Cairo, 6 Rabi’ul Awwal 1435/8 January 2014 (MINA) – The judge in the trial of Egypt’s deposed President Mohamed Morsi has ordered the hearings adjourned until February 1 after bad weather prevented bringing Morsi to court, according to state media.

State media reported that the helicopter that was to fly Morsi from a prison near the Mediterranean city of Alexandria to the court in Cairo could not take off because of fog on Wednesday, Al Jazeera quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Morsi and 14 others are on trial for inciting the killing of protesters outside a Cairo presidential palace in December 2012, when at least 10 people were killed and hundreds wounded.

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It is one of three trials that Morsi faces. Charges in all three carry the death penalty.

Mohammad Salim al-Awwa, Morsi’s lawyer and former aide, told Al Jazeera he believed the decision to adjourn the hearing had nothing to do with the weather.

“The decision is purely political,” he said. “The authorities do not want protests to erupt following the trial and ahead of the vote in the referendum,” he said.

Egyptians in the country are set to vote in the constitutional referendum on January 14 and 15. Voting for expatriates began on Wednesday.

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Clashes erupted on Wednesday in Cairo’s Nasr City district between pro-Morsi protesters and security forces, injuring several people, Al Jazeera’s correspondent said.

Morsi first appeared in court in early November, insisting that he was still president and being held against his will. (T/P09/E1).

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).