Judges resign in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood trial

Three judges presiding over the trial of Egypt's senior Muslim Brotherhood members stepped down Wednesday after the defendants disrupted the proceedings and chanted against the judiciary.

It represents the second time a three-judge panel has resigned from the proceedings. On October 29, three other judges stepped down after police failed to bring defendants into the court, citing an inability to secure the courtroom.

At that time, the move was seen as a criticism of the fairness of the proceedings, with the panel citing "uneasiness" over the trial.

Ranking Brotherhood figures, including the group's leader, Mohammed Badie, and deputy Khairat el-Shater face charges of inciting the killing of peaceful demonstrators and attempted murder.

The current trial relates to an anti-Brotherhood protest near the group's Cairo headquarters on June 30 in which nine people were killed and 91 wounded.

Presiding judge Mostafa Salama suspended the proceedings in October as Badie and his co-defendants chanted against the government installed by the military in the wake of the removal of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president.

But at the trial’s resumption on Tuesday, mayhem again erupted in the dock, with the accused chanting "Sisi traitor, Sisi traitor" in reference to Egyptian military chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

"I asked the accused to remain calm but they did not do so. Therefore we are recusing ourselves," Salama said before he and his two fellow judges walked out.

In a brief address from the dock, Badie, dressed in white prison uniform like his fellow-accused, railed against the new authorities, accusing them of carrying out a coup by deposing Morsi.

Al Jazeera and wire services