CAIRO
A lawyer defending ousted president Mohamed Morsi has challenged the court jurisdiction in his trial on charges of inciting the murder of opposition demonstrators outside the presidential palace in late 2012.
The court "lacks jurisdiction to try the president of the Republic, who neither stepped down nor ousted by a decree published in the official gazette," Mohamed Selim Al-Awa told the court on Saturday.
Al-Awa argued that according to article 159 of Egypt's new constitution, a president of the republic must be tried before a special court that is chaired by the head of the Supreme Judicial Council.
During the session, Al-Awa cast doubts on evidence presented by prosecutors against Morsi, sources told Anadolu Agency.
He also objected to placing Morsi and other defendants inside a glass box in the courtroom, describing the move as a violation of all international norms and conventions, the sources added.
Morsi – along with 14 other defendants, including several other high-ranking Muslim Brotherhood officials – face charges of inciting the murder of protesters outside Cairo's Ittihadiya presidential palace in December 2012.
Seven of the trial defendants are being tried in absentia.
The defendants flashed the four-fingered Rabaa sign in memory of hundreds of Morsi backers killed when their protest camp was violently cleared by security forces in mid-August.
The defendants also gave their backs to the judges, the sources said.
Al-Awa accused Interim President Adly Mansour of meddling in the work of the judiciary by calling last week for increasing the number of court divisions looking into terrorism and espionage cases.
Morsi was removed from office – and subsequently imprisoned – by Egypt's military last July following protests against his presidency.
He did not show up to a second trial session on the same case on January 8. At the time, security officials cited "bad weather" as the reason for their apparent failure to transfer Morsi to the trial venue in Cairo.
On Saturday, al-Awa asked the judge to allow the ex-president to speak. The judge agreed to this demand, but he suspended the session a short time later.
By Hazem Badr
englishnews@aa.com.tr
