Security on high alert as Morsi trial moved

The trial of deposed President Mohamed Morsi, slated to start Monday, has been moved from the Tora Police Institute to the Police Academy in New Cairo on a decision by Justice Minister AdelAbdelHamid, MENA reported.

The last-minute venue change comes amid intense security preparations in anticipation of protests by Muslim Brotherhood supporters.

Morsi has been held incommunicado since his ouster by the Armed Forces on July 3. He faces charges of murder and attempted murder related to clashes in December 2012 that claimed 11 lives in front of Ettehadiya Presidential Palace.

The Interior Ministry is on high alert in preparation for the trial, the state news agency reported. Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim held meetings with aides to devise a plan to secure the trial, MENA said. The plan includes 20,000 officers and conscripts who will be deployed to secure Morsi’s transfer to the courthouse in a military helicopter.

Heavy security will be deployed around other prominent buildings such as the Shura Council, the parliament and cabinet buildings, the Maspero state television building, the Central Bank, and Media Production City.

As part of the security plan, which is extended to several governorates, police stations will also be secured and surveillance cameras installed inside them.

Security will be increased at all crossings in and out of Sinai through the canal cities of Suez, Port Said and Ismailia. Several checkpoints will also be set up in North and South Sinai.

Morsi is facing trial alongside Freedom and Justice Party deputy Essam al-Erian and Brotherhood leader Mohamed al-Beltagy, as well as other group figures.

The Anti-Coup Alliance has called for mass protests against the “absurd trial” at the courthouse on Monday morning.

Morsi is also implicated in prison breaks, in particular that at Wadi al-Natrun Prison, during the January 25 uprising in 2011. He also faces charges of spying alongside Hamas in order to conduct attacks on Egyptian police stations and officers. He is also charged with working with Hamas on the premeditated murder and kidnap of policemen.

His whereabouts have been subject of much controversy. In July over 50 people were killed in clashes with the Armed Forces around the Republican Guards headquarters, where protesters had staged a sit-in in the belief that Morsi was held inside.