CAIRO — Egyptian authorities have ordered more than 500 supporters of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to face a mass tribunal on violence charges. Thousands of Morsi supporters have been arrested, killed and injured in a heavy crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood since the Islamist leader was toppled on July 3. The Muslim Brotherhood has been labeled a terrorist organization and its assets have been confiscated. On Monday, Egypt's main prosecutor Hisham Barakat referred 504 of Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters to the Cairo Criminal Court on charges ranging from murder and using violence during deadly clashes that broke out during Aug. 16 demonstrations. The events came two days after the military-backed government razed sprawling protest camps, killing hundreds of people and sparking days of unrest. Meanwhile, a Libyan security official said the bodies of seven Coptic Christian Egyptians were found in the eastern city of Benghazi, killed with shots to the head while handcuffed. Col. Ibrahim Al-Sharaa, the spokesman of Benghazi's Joint Security Operation Room, said that the bodies were found on Monday in an area called Garoutha, 30 kilometers from the city center. The ages of the dead range between 17 and 25, he said. Since the ouster of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, the government has relied on militias, many of them are Islamic extremists, to preserve order. – Agencies
