Ousted Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, has returned to court for the second time since he was ousted in July, to stand trial for jailbreak charges during the 2011 uprising. Morsi stood inside a glass-encased metal cage at the start of his trial in eastern Cairo. The Egyptian authorities have accused him and the other defendants of plotting to "destroy the Egyptian state and its institutions."
The prosecution claims that the former president together with other leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood were freed from jail illegally on 30 January 2011 in an intervention from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, during the early days of the 18-day uprising against ousted President Hosni Mubarak
Morsi is also accused of insulting Egypt's judiciary and collaborating in an international terrorism conspiracy involving Palestinian Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iran's revolutionary guards. His first appearance in court was for allegedly inciting the murder of protesters during demonstrations in Cairo in December 2012.
The Muslim Brotherhood leader was deposed on 3 July and held incommunicado in several military facilities. Egyptian authorities had the group's assets frozen and declared it terrorist organisation.
The BBC has reported that Mr Morsi at the trial today started shouting: "I am the president of the republic, how can I be kept in a dump for weeks?" The ousted leader is facing four separate criminal trials on various charges. Many of the charges he faces carry the death sentence
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