Thu Jan 13, 11:30 am ET
 
CAIRO – Egypt's prosecutor general has charged an off-duty policeman in the killing of a Christian man on a train this week and referred the case to trial.

The prosecutor's office said in a statement Thursday that Amer Ashour Abdel-Zaher faces several charges, the most serious of which is premeditated murder. He could face the death sentence, if convicted.

The 23-year-old Abdel-Zaher was off-duty when he boarded a Cairo-bound train in the town of Samalout in southern Egypt Tuesday and opened fire, killing a 71-year-old Christian man and wounding his wife and four others.

The attack, less than two weeks after the suicide bombing of a church killed 21, sparked new demonstrations by enraged Christians who pelted police with stones in southern Egypt.

It was not clear when the trial would start.