Egypt's public prosecutor referred deposed President Mohamed Morsi to trial on Sunday on charges of committing and inciting violence, the state news agency reported.

In an apparent escalation of the military-backed government’s crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, it was announced that Morsi along with 14 other members of the Islamist group that backed him would stand trial on counts of “committing acts of violence, and inciting killing and thuggery."

Also on Sunday, authorities named a 50-member constituent assembly containing just two Islamists, and gave it 60 days to review amendments that would erase Islamic articles brought in last year by the Brotherhood and more hardline Islamic parties.

The charges against Morsi relate to the death of protesters outside the presidential palace in December last year, while he was still in power. The demonstrations were set off in part by anger over expanded powers that the then-president had awarded himself. No date has been set for the trial of Morsi, who has been kept at a secret location since his ouster earlier this year.

The Brotherhood-backed former president also faces an investigation over an alleged conspiracy with foreign groups to break out of prison during the chaos of the country's 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak.

Morsi was removed from power in a military coup on July 3 after millions of Egyptians took to the streets demanding he step down. Protesters clashed with rival demonstrators organized in support of Morsi, resulting in a military crackdown that killed hundreds of protesters.

More than 1,000 people have died in violence across Egypt since Morsi's fall, making it the bloodiest civil unrest in the republic's 60-year history.

Charges over the death of protesters have now been lodged against two recent former presidents. Egypt's former strongman, Hosni Mubarak, is also scheduled to face trial over his government’s handling of mass protests. The 85-year-old is charged with complicity in the killing of Egyptians during demonstrations that eventually led to his ouster as part of the Arab Spring protests of 2011.

During a brief court session last week, his trial was adjourned until Sept. 14.



Mubarak, who is currently under house arrest, was initially convicted in June, 2012, and sentenced to life in prison. But he appealed and a retrial was ordered in January. Alongside the charges relating to the death of protesters, he faces a number of counts of corruption, despite being cleared of some on Aug. 25.

Meanwhile, the trial of Mohamed Badie, spiritual leader of the Brotherhood, and two of his deputies, Khairat al-Shater and Rashad Bayoumy, was also adjourned just minutes after opening on Aug. 25. None of the men appeared in court for security reasons and hearings are set to resume Oct. 29.

The three Brotherhood defendants in that case are accused of authorizing the murders of nine protesters outside the organization's headquarters on the night of June 30.

Egyptian authorities have issued arrest warrants and detention orders for hundreds of Brotherhood members and detained several senior leaders of the group in recent weeks. According to security sources, at least 2,000 have been arrested since Aug. 14.

As more Brotherhood members are arrested, some Mubarak-era figures have walked free: former prime minister Ahmed Nazif was released earlier this year because of a limit on pre-trial detention. Former Housing Minister Ibrahim Soliman, sentenced to eight years in jail on corruption charges after the 2011 uprising, was released on Sunday pending his appeal, judicial sources said.