The Egypt's deposed president, Mohamed Morsi, has accused those who removed him of "treason against the whole nation" and said in a written message that his removal must be reversed and those behind it put on trial.
The Egypt's deposed president, Mohamed Morsi, has accused those who removed him of "treason against the whole nation" and said in a written message that his removal must be reversed and those behind it put on trial.
A group of volunteer lawyers, not Morsi’s defence lawyers, read the message from Morsi at a press conference on Wednesday, a day after they met him in prison.
Morsi said he intends to sue the army-installed authorities, and that there can be no stability in Egypt unless “the military coup is eliminated and those responsible for shedding Egyptians’ blood are held accountable”.
Mohamed al-Damati, one of the lawyers, said: “The president plans to take legal measures against the coup, and this will be up to the defence team in the near future.”
In the letter, Morsi said he was “kidnapped” and held by the Republican Guard on July 2 – a day before he was formally removed by the military.
Morsi was moved to a high security prison in Alexandria on November 4 after the first session of his trial on charges of incitement to murder protesters in December 2012.
Morsi has so far not agreed on which lawyers will represent him at the trial, which is set to resume on January 8.
Morsi maintains that the court is illegitimate and that it doesn’t have the authority to do what it’s doing. He says he’s still the president of Egypt.