Egypt's Morsi Trial is scheduled to start on November 4

The politically charged trial of Egypt’s Mohammed Morsi will begin Nov. 4, almost four months to the day after the country’s first democratically elected president was toppled by the military, authorities said Wednesday. 

The prosecution of Morsi on charges of inciting his followers to kill opponents of his rule takes the crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood to a new level and is likely to fuel protests by his Islamist supporters, stoking the turmoil shaking Egypt. 

Since his July 3 ouster, Morsi’s backers have taken to the streets in rallies met by a fierce response by security forces that has left hundreds dead.

Wednesday’s announcement comes as the United States said it was cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in annual aid to Egypt and its military — a show of discontent with the crackdown aimed at pressuring the interim leadership to move quickly toward a democratically elected government. 

For Egypt’s military-backed government, the trial is a chance to lay out their justification for the sweeping arrest campaign and ultimately for Morsi’s ouster.

Authorities contend the former president and the Brotherhood, which dominated power during his year in office, committed crimes while in power — and have turned to violence since his removal. 

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Morsi’s son, Osama Morsi, told the Turkish news agency Anadolu that his father ‘‘rejects this trial and others and will not recognize it.’’

Rights lawyers point out that they tried to have the case prosecuted while Morsi was in office, a sign that it is not purely based on vengeance. 

Hoda Nasrallah, a prominent human rights attorney, said the case has merits and is not simply political. ‘‘But there are definitely political purposes . . . and score-settling,’’ she acknowledged.

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