"Mohamed Morsi trial adjourned as chaos breaks out in Egyptian court" is an article published today by the Guardian.
"Egypt's former president Mohamed Morsi claimed he remains Egypt's only legitimate leader as he stood trial on Monday, in his first public appearance since being deposed four months ago. His presence sparked chaos in the courtroom, with Morsi's 14 co-defendants chanting against the army who ousted him, local journalists shouting for his execution and scuffles breaking out between rival lawyers. Amid the melee, Morsi and his colleagues rejected the authority of the court before the bedlam forced the presiding judge to adjourn proceedings until 8 January," the article reads.
Describing Morsi in court, the author of the article writes that "He appeared well, wearing a tieless dark suit – unlike his fellow defendants, who were clad in white prison tracksuits – and did not appear to have lost weight during his period of incommunicado incarceration."
"Morsi is alleged to have encouraged the murder of protesters demonstrating outside Cairo's presidential palace last December, charges also faced by the 14 other senior officials from the Muslim Brotherhood...Though Morsi and his co-defendants say they were arrested for political reasons resulting from July's regime change, human rights lawyers acting for those who died last December reminded journalists during a break in proceedings that their charges predate Morsi's overthrow."
"Throughout the session, Morsi refused to recognise the validity of the trial and rejected the right of his lawyer – Selim al-Awa, a prominent figure who also ran for president last year – to represent him. One of the Brotherhood's legal team later grudgingly admitted they would have to engage with the trial. 'The defendants don't want to recognise it, but this is the de facto court, and we are going to have to deal with it,' said Bahaa Abdelrahman, a lawyer acting for Essam el-Arian, the senior Brotherhood official arrested only last week," the article concludes.
The New York Times published today an article dedicated to the same topic entitled "Morsi Calls Trial in Egypt ‘Illegitimate,’ and Case Is Delayed."
"For the new government installed by Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, the trial will be a ritual demonstration of its repeated assurances that there will be no turning back from the overthrow of Mr. Morsi or from the cancellation of the Islamist-drafted constitution approved in December in a national referendum. The court proceedings add formal legal legitimacy to Mr. Morsi’s incarceration, analysts said, so that it is no longer by military fiat alone," the article reads.
