CAIRO
Two sons of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi were stopped from visiting the jailed leader on Tuesday without reason, Morsi's son Osama said.
"My brother and I went to Burg al-Arab Prison today to visit our father, but we were surprised to find prison administrators telling us that the visit had been denied, even though we're entitled to four visits a month without obtaining prior permission," Osama told Anadolu Agency.
It was the second time that members of Morsi's family were barred from visiting the detained leader since he managed to convey a message to the Egyptian people earlier this month via lawyers who had visited him in jail, Osama noted.
Morsi was flown to Alexandria's maximum-security Burg al-Arab Prison earlier this month after appearing in court with seven other defendants to answer charges that he had "incited the murder" of demonstrators outside Cairo's Ittihadiya presidential palace late last year.
Morsi, for his part, has refused to recognize the trial's legitimacy ,telling the presiding judge at one point that he still represented Egypt's legitimate president.
A November 4 court session had been Morsi's first public appearance since he was removed by the military on July 3 following massive demonstrations against his presidency.
Morsi's supporters, who describe his ouster this summer as an illegitimate military coup, insist that the charges against him are politically motivated.
Trial proceedings in the incitement case were postponed by almost two months – they are now slated to resume on January 8 – after defense lawyers requested more time to examine documentation related to the case.
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