Hosni Mubarak, Muslim Brotherhood leaders face trials in Egypt

Three leaders of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and former president Hosni Mubarak faced separate trials on Sunday on similar charges of involvement in the killing of protesters.

Local media have described the trials as the "Trial of two regimes" as Egypt currently remains under an army-installed government after last month's overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.

The case against Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood's "General Guide", and his deputies, Khairat al-Shater and Rashad Bayoumy, relates to unrest before the army removed Mursi on July 3. Mursi has been detained in an undisclosed location since then.

Reuters report that Badie and his deputies were not expected to appear in the first hearing of their case, which will be held behind closed doors for security reasons.

Mubarak, who left prison on Thursday after judges ordered his release, was due to attend his session with his jailed sons Gamal and Alaa and former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly.

The former president was sentenced to life in prison last year for complicity in the killing of protesters during the revolt against him, but an appeals court ordered a retrial.

According to Reuters, the trial of the Brotherhood's top leaders signals that Egypt's new army-backed rulers intend to crush what they have portrayed as a violent, terrorist group bent on subverting the state.

The Brotherhood, which won five successive post-Mubarak votes, says it is a peaceful movement unjustly targeted by the generals who ousted Mursi, Egypt's first freely elected leader.

The military contends it was responding to the people's will, citing vast demonstrations at the time against the rule of a man criticised for accumulating excessive power, pushing a partisan Islamist agenda and mismanaging the economy.