The murder trial of deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi was adjourned to Thursday for the court to consider a defense request for new judges.

The trial is part of a relentless government crackdown against Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood movement since the military ended his turbulent year-long rule on July 3.

A Cairo court banned Tuesday the Palestinian Hamas movement from operating in Egypt, tightening the noose around the militant rulers of the blockaded Gaza Strip amid a crackdown on Islamists.

The emergency court's decision to also seize Hamas's assets, ahead of a final ruling, was in response to a private citizen's petition to designate it as a terrorist group.

Egypt's military-installed authorities are tightening their grip on mosques by laying down the theme for the weekly Friday sermons, in the latest move to curb Islamist dissent.

The controversial measure comes as Egypt remains deeply polarized after a government crackdown on supporters of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who was deposed by the army last July.

An Egyptian appeals court has postponed until April 9 a request by lawyers to appoint new judges in two trials involving ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, judicial sources said Monday.

The defense lawyers have demanded that the judges in two of three trials under way against Morsi withdraw, after private conversations between the defendants and their lawyers were allegedly taped and a newspaper leaked one between Morsi and lawyer Selim al-Awa.

Two Egyptian policemen were sentenced to 10 years in jail Monday for the killing of a blogger, whose death rallied protesters in the 2011 revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

The two were sentenced following a retrial for the manslaughter and torture of Khaled Said in June 2010, when they had unlawfully arrested him at an Internet cafe in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.

A son of deposed Islamist president Mohammed Morsi was freed Sunday a day after being arrested on suspicion of possessing hashish, judicial sources said.

Police said they found two joints on 19-year-old Abdullah Morsi and a friend in a car parked by the roadside in Qalyubia province north of Cairo, security officials said on Saturday.

Egypt's new prime minister said Sunday that security was his cabinet's top priority, as security forces have faced near daily attacks since the July ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

In his first address to the nation, Ibrahim Mahlab, a former member of the party of toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak, said Egypt was faced "with challenges that are like mountains," but vowed to confront them with transparency and firmness.

Time was, overturning a freely-elected government would have earned a sharp U.S. rebuke. But as people power revolts sweep some countries, Washington is increasingly giving its blessing to ousting leaders accused of betraying democracy.

From Egypt, where the nation's first democratically-elected president Islamist leader Mohammed Morsi was toppled in July by the army, to Ukraine where Viktor Yanukovych, brought to power in 2010 polls, fled his post after months of street protests, the U.S. has had to fine-tune its response.

The authorities in Egypt arrested a 19-year-old son of ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi Saturday, accusing him of possessing hashish cigarettes, a charge denied by his brother.

Security officials said police found two joints on Abdullah Morsi and a friend who were in a car parked by the roadside in Qalyubia province north of Cairo.

Egypt's army chief, who has made no secret of his intention to stand for president despite not yet announcing his candidacy, remains defense minister in a new cabinet sworn in Saturday.

Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi retains the defense portfolio in the new line-up led by Ibrahim Mahlab, a former member of ousted strongman Hosni Mubarak's ruling party.