Egypt’s deposed president Mohammed Morsi has rejected a court’s authority to put him on trial, saying he is still the country’s leader.
The trial, which was interrupted twice on its first day yesterday by shouting in the courtroom, was adjourned until January 8 to allow lawyers time to review the case against Morsi and his 14 co-defendants – all prominent members of the Moslem Brotherhood.
Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, has been held at an undisclosed location since the military ousted him in a coup on July 3.
The 62-year-old Morsi had refused to wear a prison uniform as the judge had ordered as part of his rejection of the trial’s legitimacy.
Morsi and his co-defendants face charges of inciting the killing of protesters who massed outside the presidential palace in December.
State TV showed Morsi arriving outside the makeshift courtroom at a police academy in Cairo. Another clip from inside the court showed his co-defendants standing – all in white prison uniforms – in two lines like a guard of honour, applauding Morsi.
When Judge Ahmed Sabry Youssef called out Morsi’s name, the ousted president, to the cheers of defence lawyers, replied: “I am Mohammed Morsi, the president of the republic.”
The judge interrupted him, saying rules for addressing the court must be observed.
Morsi went on: “I am Dr Mohammed Morsi, the president of the republic. I am here by force and against my will. The coup is a crime and treason.”