Egyptian television showed footage of Mohammed Morsi arriving at court
Egypt's
ousted leader Mohammed Morsi has gone on trial in Cairo, telling the
judge the case is illegitimate as he remains president.
He and 14 other Muslim Brotherhood figures face charges of
inciting the killing of protesters outside the presidential palace in
2012.After Mr Morsi's remarks and his refusal to wear a uniform, the judge adjourned the trial until 8 January.
He was then flown to Burj al-Arab prison in Alexandria.
Security officials told the BBC Mr Morsi was transferred after registration to the prison hospital for a routine medical check.
He is awaiting a medical report which will determine whether he will be sent to a cell or kept at the hospital, they added.
Earlier reports had suggested that he would be taken to Tora prison on the outskirts of Cairo. Until now he had been held at a secret military location.
Protests took place outside the court and elsewhere in Cairo.
In court
Mohammed Morsi arrived looking quite relaxed. He waved at supporters when he came in, he smiled and gave the four-finger salute [used by his supporters].
Almost as soon as the judge began speaking he began interrupting. He shouted out repeatedly, even when his voice was hoarse. He kept repeating: "This is not a legitimate trial, this trial is part of the coup; the coup itself is a crime."
He interrupted the first session at least three times before the judge adjourned. During the second session he interrupted twice saying: "I am the president, I am the president, you have no right to conduct a trial into presidential matters".
He sat quietly during the first break in the trial and was surrounded by some of his fellow defendants, members of the Brotherhood he has not seen since he was removed by the military. He smiled, gesticulated and gave one of them a bear hug.
Mr Morsi was ousted by the military in July after protests against his rule.
Early on Monday Mr Morsi was brought into the sprawling
Police Academy compound by helicopter. Other defendants, including Essam
el-Erian, Mohammed al-Beltagi and Ahmed Abdel Aatie, were said to have
arrived in armoured personnel carriers.No television pictures were broadcast from the court although journalists were allowed in for the former president's first public appearance since he was deposed on 3 July.
As he entered the courtroom, Mr Morsi refused to remove his blue suit and put on the required white prison uniform. The defendants, who were being held in a cage in the courtroom, chanted "illegal, illegal".
When asked to give his name, the former president gave a defiant response, according to reporters inside the court.
What is the 'four-finger salute'?
- Symbol used by supporters of Mohammed Morsi
- Named after Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya Square, where hundreds of Morsi supporters were killed in August
- "Rabaa" means "four" in Arabic
- Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan used the gesture on 17 August to signal condemnation of the crackdown on Morsi supporters
- Later that day, top Turkish footballer Emre Belozoglu also used the Rabaa gesture as a victory sign after scoring a goal. He was criticised for politicising the game
- Anti-Morsi groups have used distorted versions of the gesture with offensive intent
"I am Dr Mohammed Morsi, the
president of the republic. I am Egypt's legitimate president. You have
no right to conduct a trial into presidential matters."
Before the trial began Mr el-Erian, a deputy leader of the Brotherhood's political wing, told the BBC that one of his fellow defendants had been mistreated with some kind of water torture and had been beaten until he was on the point of collapse.
Mr Morsi and the 14 other members of the Muslim Brotherhood had been widely expected to use the occasion to underline what they see as the illegitimacy of his removal from power.
Police had to step in at one point because of heckling in the court. The BBC's Orla Guerin says some of those attending the trial, including women journalists, shouted that the defendants should be given the death penalty.
The trial had been due to take place at Tora prison on the other side of Cairo but had been switched late on Sunday, apparently to deter protesters.
Shortly after Mr Morsi's arrival, a small crowd arrived and began chanting outside the police compound more than one hour's drive from the centre of the city.
The crowd soon grew and protesters were briefly seen on state TV chanting slogans against army chief Gen Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led Mr Morsi's removal from power. Demonstrators shouted at a state TV crew and chanted "liars" before chasing them and pelting them with stones.
The BBC's Shaimaa Khalil: "These protesters still see Morsi as their legitimate president"
While state institutions were said to have opened normally on Monday, some private schools had told parents to keep their children at home.
Defendants on trial
- Mohammed Morsi - deposed Egyptian president
- Mohammed al-Beltagi - Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) secretary-general
- Ahmed Abdel Aati - head of Morsi's presidential office
- Assaad Sheikh - deputy chief of presidential staff
- Ayman Hodhod - adviser to Morsi
- Essam el-Erian - deputy head of the FJP
- Wagdi Ghonim - FJP cleric
- Alaa Hamza - Muslim Brotherhood member
- Abdel Rahman Ezz - Muslim Brotherhood member
- Ahmed al-Mogheer - Muslim Brotherhood member
- Gamal Saber - Salafist leader
- Four unnamed individuals
Although Mr Morsi won the presidency in a democratic election, during his 13 months in power he fell out with key institutions.
After he was ousted, a sit-in protest at Rabaa al-Adawiya Square in Cairo by Mr Morsi's supporters was violently broken up by the military, leading to the deaths of hundreds of people.
The interim government has also cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood, banning the Islamist organisation and arresting dozens of senior figures.
Pro-Morsi supporters say he was removed in a coup and is now facing a politicised trial. Human rights groups accuse the security services of acting without accountability.
Legal experts say that if convicted Mr Morsi could be jailed for life or face the death penalty.
"What is the military afraid of? Why won't they let him speak? Even prisoners have rights."
The National Police Academy is also hosting the trial of his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, - meaning there are two former Egyptian presidents being tried concurrently.
An estimated 20,000 security personnel have been deployed to keep order amid fears that the trial could deepen the rift between Egyptians and cause greater unrest.
On Sunday evening, gunmen killed two Egyptian policemen near the city of Ismailia.
SOURCE: BBC
