Egypt court delays trial of 683 Muslim Brotherhood supporters

An Egyptian court adjourned Tuesday the trial of 683 Muslim Brotherhood supporters, including the group's top leader Mohamed Badie, until April 28, official MENA news agency reported.

The trial comes a day after the same court in Upper Egypt's Minya province sentenced 529 Muslim Brotherhood supporters to death. The defendants were charged with making assaults on police stations in Minya in August last year, in which one policeman was killed.

The 683 defendants are accused of the attempted murder of several policemen and attacking police premises following the security dispersal of major sit-ins in Cairo and Giza staged by loyalists of ousted President Mohamed Morsi in August last year, when the crackdown left about 1,000 people dead and thousands arrested.

Morsi, the first elected president of Egypt, was ousted by the military in July last year, in a move that has sparked continuing protests by the Muslim Brotherhood across the country.

Morsi himself and thousands of Brotherhood members are on trial on charges of killing protesters, inciting violence and colluding with foreign groups against Egypt's national security.

The Muslim Brotherhood has been blacklisted by the interim government as "terrorist organization."