CAIRO
The National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy, the main support bloc for ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, challenged the country's military-backed authorities to broadcast the trial of the deposed leader on air.
In a statement late Saturday, the alliance said that the authorities would not dare to broadcast the trial, due to kick off on Monday, "because they know what Morsi would do to them."
Morsi's legal team said that the deposed leader refuses to recognize the court's legitimacy and might deliver a speech, in which he would declare that the trial is invalid and unconstitutional.
Morsi, Egypt's first democratically-elected president, is expected to appear in court for the first time on Monday. It will be Morsi's first public appearance since his ouster by the military in July, following massive protests against his presidency.
Local media has earlier reported that security agencies do not want Morsi's trial to be televised, lest the trial would provoke the backers of the ousted president into attacking the court.
In July, tens of protesters were killed outside the Republican Guard Club, east of Cairo, following reports that Morsi was detained by the army there.
Morsi faces charges – which critics insist are politically motivated – of inciting the murder of protesters outside Cairo's Ittihadiya presidential palace late last year.
Members of Morsi's defense team say they themselves would only attend the trial in the capacity of "observers" and not to mount a legal defense.
The alliance has already called on supporters to protest outside the trial's venue on Monday.
Morsi's backers consider Morsi's ouster by the army as a "military coup" against an elected leader, while pro-military groups said the move was taken upon "the popular will" demonstrated in mass protests against his rule.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
