Mohammed Mursi to face trial on charge of incitement to murder

Egypt's chief prosecutor has ordered former president Mohammed Mursi and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders to stand trial on charges including inciting murder.

A panel of Egyptian judges recommended late yesterday the dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood group, adding momentum to a push by authorities to ban the ousted Islamist president's main backers.

In its recommendation to Egypt's administrative court, the panel of judges accused the Brotherhood of operating outside the law. It also recommended the closure of its Cairo headquarters. The recommendation is nonbinding for the court, which holds its next hearing on November 12.

Yesterday's development and the prosecutor's order on Sunday seemed to extinguish hope of a political resolution that would bring the Brotherhood out from the underground and back into the political process.

The authorities, who allege that Mursi stoked deadly clashes outside his palace in December, did not detail the evidence against him. There is no public record of statements he may have made to incite violence. Since Mursi was deposed on July 3, setting off protest rallies and sit-ins across the country, the authorities have killed more than 1,000 of his supporters and jailed much of the Brotherhood's senior leadership.

The former president has been detained without formal charges since his overthrow.