CAIRO — The trial of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi began on a defiant note inside a sealed courtroom here on Monday, with Morsi refusing to don the required clothing and telling a judge: “I am Egypt’s legitimate president . . . I refuse to be tried by this court.”
Morsi and his co-defendants, who like him are loyal to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood party, then began chanting to disrupt the proceedings. Presiding Judge Ahmed Sabry Youssef responded by adjourning the trial for two months. It is scheduled to resume on Jan. 8.
Egypt’s military-backed government announced Sunday night that the trial was being moved from its scheduled location at Cairo’s notorious Tora Prison to the police academy, a compound ringed by high walls and concertina wire. Morsi’s supporters said the shift made it more difficult for protesters to demonstrate nearby.
Morsi has not chosen a lawyer to represent him because “he does not accept the terms of the trial,” said Nasser Soliman, one of a group of several dozen defense attorneys who are loyal to the former president and arrived at the police academy demanding to be allowed to advocate on behalf of him and his co-defendants.
The lawyers said they have had little to no access to Morsi or the other defendants or the evidence being presented against them. They said they applied for permits to attend the trial, but most had been denied.
Cameras and recording devices were also prohibited. That meant that the proceedings — until they were adjourned — unfolded out of sight from the nation that chose Morsi as its leader in 2012.
“There is not a single attorney for Mohamed Morsi,” one lawyer yelled at police officers through the barbed wire barrier, his face red and distorted in fury. “Go check with your commanders. We are the defense committee.”
“That’s not my problem,” an officer answered him. “I need written authorization.”
Dozens of police in black riot gear and bullet-proof vests stood behind a wall of concertina wire, bracing for a confrontation. Some of the police shouldered assault rifles and wore black ski masks to conceal their identities.
“They’re keeping us two to three kilometers away from the door [of the court] in order to keep the defense from attending, and in order to disable the media,” said Hassan Saleh, one of the lawyers. “We asked for this to be broadcast live. But from my experience, those who commit illegitimate actions do not want anyone to know about them.”
Outside the police lines, several dozen Morsi supporters chanted anti-military slogans before a vast line-up of television cameras and jostling reporters.
The Brotherhood-led Anti-Coup Alliance had called for mass protests on Monday to mark the opening of the trial, and by midday clashes had broken out in downtown Cairo between protesters and Egyptian security forces firing tear gas. The military cordoned off Cairo’s Tahrir Square with troops and armored vehicles to prevent protesters from using the space.
