
A
supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood holds a poster of deposed president
Mohamed Morsy in July.
Facing trial alongside
him are 14 other members of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, state news
agency MENA said.
Morsy, who is backed by
the Brotherhood, will be tried at Egypt's Criminal Court on charges
relating to his
alleged involvement in violence that took place around the
Ittihadiya Presidential Palace, the news agency said.
U.S. to cut some
military aid to Egypt after coup, turmoil
Egypt's military forcibly
removed Morsy from office in early July. He has been in detention since
then, and a military-backed interim government has been in power.
In September, an Egyptian
court banned all activities of the Muslim Brotherhood and froze its
finances, drawing complaints from the international community.
The Brotherhood, an
Islamist group that rose to power after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in 2011, has called for the
reinstatement of Morsy's government.
Egypt has been in turmoil
since Morsy's ouster, with the military and Morsy opponents battling
Muslim Brotherhood members and others.
In August, hundreds of
people -- citizens as well as members of security forces -- were killed.
Many of the deaths occurred when the military used force to clear two
pro-Morsy sit-in sites in Cairo. Violence raged after Morsy supporters
staged demonstrations a few days later.
Each side blames the
other for stoking the violence.
Morsy, who was backed by
the Muslim Brotherhood's political arm, was the country's first
democratically elected president.
But critics say he
became increasingly authoritarian and forced through a conservative
Islamist agenda during his year in power that alienated moderates. His
ouster followed huge street protests calling for his removal.
Western nations,
including the United States and Britain, have urged Egypt's temporary
government to have an inclusive political process.
Egypt's interim foreign
minister, Nabil Fahmy, told the U.N. General Assembly last month that
the government is following a road map that will see nationwide
elections by next spring.
U.S. military
aid to be reduced?
The White House said
Tuesday that the United States is preparing to announce a decision "in
the coming days" on assistance to Egypt, and U.S. officials told CNN
that military aid will be cut, though not all of it.
The Obama administration
already withheld some military aid to Egypt in August, after the
turmoil that followed Morsy's ouster.
Military aid that could
continue includes funds to uphold Egypt's obligations under its peace
treaty with Israel, and money for counterterrorism and security in
Sinai, where extremists have been able to set up base, a senior U.S.
official said. The United States will also maintain nonmilitary funding
that helps promote democracy, the official said.
Any decision to cut aid
would not preclude resuming the aid should Egypt take what the United
States says are positive steps toward restoring democracy, officials
said.
CNN senior international
correspondent Ben Wedeman said that in the short term, the U.S.
decision could have a positive impact for the interim Egyptian
government.
"Immediately, probably,
the Egyptian government is going to find it's going to gain somewhat in
terms of local public opinion," he said. "There seems to be a lot of
frustration with the United States, given its role in Egypt over the
last 2½ years since the revolution."
CNN's Jim Sciutto and Elise Labott
contributed to this report.

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