A delegation has urged former president Mohamed Morsi to appoint a defence lawyer – something he has so far refused to do.
The five-member delegation included the ex-leader's son Osama Morsi, Lawyers’ Syndicate freedoms committee head Mohamed El-Damaty and Islamist thinker Mohamed Selim El-Awa.
After the meeting, El-Damaty refused to take questions from journalists and said the delegation would hold a press conference upon its return to Cairo.
Morsi, 62, who was toppled by the army in July after mammoth protests against his rule, is being tried for incitement to murder, which could result in the death penalty.
In the first trial session last week, Morsi refused to recognise the court and declared he was still Egypt's legitimate president.
On Monday, El-Damaty said, "The visit is meant to talk [Morsi] into appointing a lawyer to avoid having the court appoint one for him. This won't mean acknowledging the court or renouncing his legitimacy as president."
Under Egyptian law, criminal courts delegate a lawyer if a defendant refuses to do appoint one himself. Defendants are not allowed to represent themselves.
Morsi had been held incommunicado by the army since his ouster on 3 July, but he was sent to the heavily guarded Borg Al-Arab prison near the Mediterranean city of Alexandria on 4 November. The trial, which saw the first public sighting of the ousted president since his overthrow, was adjourned to 8 January.
Lawyers plan to challenge the court's jurisdiction on the grounds that the country's president shall not be tried without the consent of parliament, El-Damaty said.
Last week, security officials allowed Morsi a family visit, the first since his removal.
Hundreds of people were killed in the months that followed Morsi's overthrow, mostly when police forcibly disbursed two protest camps by Morsi supporters. Thousands of his backers have been rounded up, including the upper echelons of his Muslim Brotherhood movement.
