Egypt's Mohamed Morsi back on trial for protester deaths in 2012

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Men add fuel to the fire burning in front of ruling party headquarters in Tahrir Square, where protests continued into the night. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

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Protesters flooded the streets of downtown Cairo and into Tahrir Square, demanding the ouster of longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

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Men are tied together after being detained by the Egyptian army, which said they were transporting drugs. The army took command of the city after police abandoned their positions. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

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A protester shows his improvised English sign in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Thousands filled the square calling for the ouster of longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

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Thousands of protesters fill Tahrir Square, decrying the corruption, unemployment and political repression under the long rule of President Hosni Mubarak. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

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Women were among the thousands of demonstrators opposing the government of President Hosni Mubarak, who ruled for three decades.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

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Students in jeans and mothers in hijabs took part in the protests in Tahrir Square. They chanted “Freedom!” and “Down with Mubarak!” (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

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“Don’t just sit there; get up, get up and join us!” one protester shouted to shopkeepers who watched marchers go by. The demonstrations were fueled in part by a generation of angry young Egyptians born after Mubarak came to power in 1981. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

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Egyptians were inspired by the revolt in Tunisia, where weeks of demonstrations ended President Zine el Abidine ben Ali’s 23-year rule and forced him to flee. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

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Soldiers in the Egyptian army sit in position in Tahrir Square. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

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Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo was filled on the sixth day of protests. After fighter jets buzzed overhead and a column of tanks tried to enter the square, thousands of protesters defied a government-imposed curfew to gather in a peaceful nighttime demonstration. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

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A woman watches from an overpass as more members of the Egyptian army roll into downtown near Tahrir Square. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

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A lone protester steps into the path of an oncoming tank near Tahrir Square. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Protesters continue to defy the government-imposed curfew and spend the night in Tahrir Square. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Protesters make their opinion of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak clear by stepping on his photograph. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Egypt’s youth and the influence of the Internet were on full display in Tahrir Square. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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A Mubarak supporter who made his way into the center of a massive antigovernment crowd in Tahrir Square is silenced after shouting his support for the president. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Antigovernment demonstrators continue their occupation of Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. Tanks and protesters remain in the square as night falls. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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More and more martyr posters, images of those killed since the protests began, are raised in the square as the demonstrations continue. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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An injured protester returns to Tahrir Square to continue demonstrating. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Many protesters, seemingly in for the long haul, put up plastic tarps creating tent cities in the square in downtown Cairo. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

By Laura King

Feb. 1, 2014 4:26 AM PT

CAIRO -- Deposed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was back in court again Saturday, on trial for inciting murder.

Morsi, who has been jailed since an army-led coup against him on July 3, faces four separate court proceedings on a number of charges. Several of them carry the death penalty.

This case began in November and was adjourned to Jan. 8 after a brief, chaotic hearing during which Morsi and his co-defendants shouted down the judge. The Jan. 8 session was held without the ex-president present; authorities said bad weather had prevented a helicopter flight from his high-security prison.

During a session of a separate trial Tuesday, on charges of orchestrating a prison break, Morsi was confined to a soundproofed glassed-in cage, able to hear the proceedings but to speak only when a microphone was activated. State television showed clips of him shouting ineffectually inside the cage.

In the case being heard Saturday, Morsi was on trial with 14 co-defendants. They are accused in the deaths of protesters outside the presidential palace in December 2012, when Morsi was president.

In the six months that the military-backed interim government has been in power, Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood has been designated a terrorist organization and authorities have carried out a sweeping crackdown against the group. More than 1,000 of Morsi’s followers have been killed in clashes with security forces, and nearly all senior members of the Brotherhood are in jail, in hiding or in exile.

Pro-Morsi protesters continue to take to the streets on a regular basis, even though police tend to crack down quickly on any gathering. One person was killed and more than two dozen were injured in protests Friday. More than 60 people, most of them supporters of Morsi, were killed in clashes Jan. 25.

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laura.king@latimes.com

Twitter: @laurakingLAT