Egypt sets Feb. 16 as start date for a Morsi trial

CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court on Tuesday set Feb. 16 as the start date for one of the trials of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, this one on charges of conspiring with foreign groups.

Egypt's prosecutor general has charged Morsi and other top Muslim Brotherhood leaders with conspiring with militant groups such as the Palestinian Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah, as well as with Iran to destabilize Egypt. Morsi is also accused of orchestrating an insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula to avenge his ouster.

Morsi's supporters and rights groups have called the accusations implausible. Morsi was ousted in a popularly-backed military coup last July, nearly a year after he became Egypt's first freely elected president.

Morsi is facing a total of four trials and was most recently referred to court over insulting the judiciary. Charges in the other three trials, including inciting the murder of his opponents and organizing jailbreaks, carry the death penalty.

Only the trial for the killing of his opponents has started and is to resume next month.

Medhat Idris of the Cairo Appeals Court told The Associated Press that the venue for the trial for conspiring with foreign groups has not yet been determined.

In the proceedings related to the killings of his opponents, Morsi was brought by helicopter from a heavily fortified prison in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria to the Cairo Police Academy.