Egyptian prosecutors are to begin an investigation into interim Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri, on charges that he incited violence last December against protesters, a rights group said on Tuesday, dpa reported.
The Cairo-based Arab Network for Human Rights Information said investigations would begin Wednesday.
Two lawyers, Mohamed al-Ghamri and Samir al-Bagouri, filed a complaint on December 17, accusing al-Ganzouri of ordering excessive force and provoking the killing of protesters demonstrating outside the cabinet offices.
"Despite more than two-weeks of peaceful sit-ins ... excessive force was not used until al-Ganzouri stated in the media that he had the power to break-up the sit-in," the complaint filed to the prosecutors said.
"This was then followed by a ministerial meeting with the minister of interior and a national security representative," it continued.
Eighteen people were killed and hundreds wounded in the five-day clashes between protesters and army and police forces outside the cabinet offices, located near central Cairo's Tahrir square.
The protesters, who regard al-Ganzouri as part of the old regime, had camped since late November outside the cabinet offices to prevent him from entering.
Al-Ganzouri was appointed by the interim ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to replace former premier Essam Sharaf, who resigned after November clashes between protesters and police forces across Egypt killed 42 people.
Al-Ganzouri served as prime minister under Mubarak in the 1990s.