The trial of ousted president Mohammed Morsi and 35 others on charges of espionage in collaboration with Hamas, Hezbollah and other militant groups to commit terror acts will begin on February 16, an Egyptian court ruled on Monday.
The Cairo appeal court ordered the trial of 62-year-old Morsi and the others on charges dating to the period between 2005 and 2013.
Nineteen defendants, including Morsi, are already behind bars. The prosecutor has issued an arrest warrant for the others.
This would be the third trial for Morsi for which a date has been fixed since the Muslim Brotherhood leader was ousted by the military in July 2013 amid mass protests against his troubled one-year rule.
The prosecutor general charged Morsi and 35 co-defendants, including top Brotherhood members and former presidential advisers, with conspiring with the Palestinian Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah to commit terror acts in Egypt.
They are also charged with revealing defence secrets to a foreign country, funding terrorists, and military training "to achieve the purposes of the international organisation of the Brotherhood", Ahram Online reported.
If found guilty, the defendants could face the death penalty.
Morsi's supporters and rights groups have called the accusations "implausible".
The Islamist leader is facing four separate trials. Last week, he was referred to a criminal court for "insulting the judiciary". A date for that has yet to be fixed.
The other charges against Egypt's first freely elected president include inciting the murder of his opponents and organising a prison break during the 2011 uprising that led to the ouster of longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak.
Morsi's trial on charges of inciting murder was adjourned on January 8 to February 1 as he could not reach the court due to bad weather.
He is also due to appear in court on January 28 over the 2011 jailbreak.
Morsi is being held in jail in Alexandria. He says the criminal charges he faces relating to his time in office are politically motivated.
More than 1,000 people have died in violence since Morsi's overthrow.
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