DHAKA: Ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi and several secular figures behind Egypt’s 2011 uprising went on trial on Saturday, as the authorities kept a crackdown on all forms of dissent.

The trial for ‘insulting the judiciary’ is the fifth for Mursi, who was sentenced to death last week on charges connected with a mass prison break during the uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Mursi and other Islamist opponents of president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi are back in the dock, as well as several liberal and secular opposition leaders in the first such trial that brought together all forms of opposition.

Twenty-six defendants, including even some Sisi supporters, stand accused of contempt of court in comments made in parliament, speeches, on social media or in interviews.

BDST: 1819 HRS, MAY 23, 2015
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