220 referred to prosecutor for mass trial in Egypt

CAIRO (AP) — Judicial officials in Egypt say 220 protesters have been referred to the public prosecutor for a mass trial.

The defendants, referred to trial Sunday, were arrested on the third anniversary of the January 2011 uprising against longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. They face charges of attempted murder, firearm possession, damaging public and private property, blocking the road, making gasoline bombs and disturbing public order in the Abdeen neighborhood of central Cairo.

Since the ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July, over 16,000 people have been detained and hundreds tried in mass trials which, rights activists say, violate detainees' rights to due process. Recently, a court in southern Egypt sentenced 529 people to death in what analysts say is the largest mass capital punishment sentence on record in Egypt.