Mr Morsi was ousted by the military last July and is facing three other legal cases. Photo: BBC NEWS

He and 35 others are accused of working with Lebanese and Palestinian groups to carry out attacks in Egypt.

The charges are one of four prosecutions that the Islamist former leader now faces.

Mr Morsi was ousted by the military last July following mass street protests against his rule.

Since then there has been a severe crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood group, as well as on other activists seen as hostile to the military-backed government.

The Brotherhood has been declared a terrorist organisation and authorities have punished any public show of support for it.

Other senior Brotherhood figures are also facing a raft of charges, including supreme guide Mohammed Badie and his deputy and former presidential candidate Khairat al-Shater.

At least 1,000 people have died in clashes between security forces and pro-Morsi protesters since he was deposed, with thousands more arrested.

Morsi defiant

Mr Morsi was brought to Cairo's police academy on Sunday morning by helicopter from the Burj al-Arab prison where he is being held.

In this latest trial, Mr Morsi is accused of collaborating with the Palestinian movement Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iran's Revolutionary Guards. If convicted he could receive the death penalty.

Proceedings in two other trials have already begun:

• The first opened in November on charges of inciting the killing of protesters near the presidential palace when he was in office in 2012.
• In January another trial opened concerning his escape from prison in a jailbreak in 2011, during which police officers were killed.
• The fourth trial will be on charges of insulting the judiciary.

Mr Morsi's supporters say he and other senior Brotherhood leaders are the victims of politically motivated prosecutions.

In his previous court appearances Mr Morsi has struck a defiant tone, refusing to recognise the legitimacy of the court and insisting that he is still the rightful president.

During that court appearance, from inside a glassed-in defendants' cage, he shouted: "I am the president of the republic. How can I be kept in a dump for weeks?"