The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy, that groups supporters of ousted President Mohamed Mursi, has called for demonstrations on Tuesday to praise the persistence of the deposed president. The alliance said in a statement that the court must have delayed the trial for two months in fear of the great numbers that would rally to support the ousted president.
Mursi and his top aides stood trial on Monday on charges of inciting violence against the regime’s opponents in clashes that killed about a dozen people last year.
The trial was adjourned to January 8 as Mursi insisted he is still the legitimate president of the region’s most populous country and refused to follow court procedures.
"I am the legitimate president of Egypt. The court is liable for not allowing the president to leave this place and practice his constitutional and legal responsibilities," Mursi said.
He described his trial, which his supporters do not acknowledge as legal, as a political cover for the military coup.
The authorities banned reporters from taking footage of the trial but released poor quality footage taken by the interior ministry showing Mursi in a dark suit.
Mursi was moved to Alexandria's Borg al-Arab Prison rather than Tora Prison, state media said on Monday, denying initial reports that he would be moved to Tora Prison.
Mursi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, was ousted by the army in July, in response to mass demonstrations across the country.
His removal came exactly a year after he was announced Egypt’s first democratically elected president since the Jan. 25 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
