Deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi is to stand trial on charges of committing and inciting violence, a state prosecutor decided on Sunday, an escalation of the army-backed authorities’ crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood.

The prosecutor, Hesham Barakat, referred Morsi and 14 other Brotherhood members to a Cairo criminal court on charges of “committing acts of violence, and inciting killing and thuggery”, the state news agency reported.

The charges relate to violence outside the presidential palace last December, after Morsi had ignited protesters’ rage by expanding his powers.