Egypt Sets Trial for Brotherhood Bosses

A month after Mohamed Morsi was driven from power in Egypt, three leading Muslim Brotherhood figures face an impending trial. A Cairo court ruling yesterday will send Brotherhood supreme guide Mohammed Badie, deputy Khairat al-Shater, and top official Mohamed Bayoumi to court on Aug. 25 for allegedly inciting the killing of rioters outside the organization's headquarters. Badie's arrest marked the first for a Brotherhood supreme guide since 1981, the New York Times notes.

The trial could mark an effort to shut down continuing protests by Brotherhood backers, including a pair of sit-ins, says an expert, adding that some opponents see it as an "opportunity to destroy the Brotherhood." Meanwhile, demonstrations continue, with thousands of Morsi supporters taking to the streets in a Cairo march today, Reuters reports. "We are not terrorists," they chanted as they called for the former leader's reinstatement. Security forces didn't move to halt the protest, but a government helicopter dropped literature at the sit-ins urging protesters to leave. Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham are set to arrive in Cairo today, the BBC reports; they join other US and EU officials in a push for resolution. (More Mohamed Morsi stories.)