埃及前总统穆尔西的审判推迟到1月8日
An Egyptian court on Monday decided to postpone the trial of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to Jan. 8 next year, over the charges of killing protesters during his one-year rule.
The first trial session, held at the Police Academy in the eastern New Cairo neighborhood, was suspended for more than an hour as the Muslim Brotherhood defendants chanted slogans against the military and the court.
"I'm the president. The coup is a humiliation and a crime. I'm here by force against my will," Morsi told judges at the end of the trial, urging the court to "try the coup leader," a Xinhua correspondent reported.
Morsi has repeated that he was the legal president of Egypt and the court has no jurisdiction to try him.
Official news agency MENA said the proceeding was adjourned as defense lawyers and judges need more time to review a large number of documents.
The ex-president, along with 14 other senior leaders of his Islamist group, is accused of inciting violence and involvement in the deaths of protesters outside the presidential palace in December 2012. All the defendants were standing trial in a large cage.
In November last year, Morsi, the country's first democratically-elected president, enraged his opponents as he issued a decree granting himself sweeping powers.
A month later, deadly clashes erupted outside the Ittihadiya presidential palace between supporters and opponents of Morsi, which claimed at least eight lives and injured hundreds of others.
Egypt's state television aired video footage of Morsi, showing the first public appearance of the 62-year-old since he was removed by the military on July 3 in response to massive nationwide protests against his rule.
However, his family members and supporters condemn the ouster of Morsi as a "military coup." They also said Morsi was arrested and tried by "politicized motives."
One image showed that Morsi, with peaceful and comfortable appearance, was buttoning his dark blue suit after stepping out of a white vehicle. He was surrounded by several policemen. Another clip showed that he went into the cage and was applauded by his co- defendants.
Source inside the trial said the presiding judge asked Morsi to change into the white detention clothes but he refused.
Morsi was airlifted to the Police Academy from the southern Tora Prison amid heave security measures. All the roads stretching to the courthouse were sealed off for fears of attacks and violence.
The military-backed government have deployed more than 20,000 security personnel in Cairo to safeguard the trial, warning that they would combat against any acts of violence.
Authorities surprisingly switched the venue on the eve of Monday's trial. Former President Hosni Mubarak is also being tried at the same place.
The original venue was reported in a court near the Tora complex.
The neighborhood of the courtroom was tightly secured and controlled by dozens of armored vehicles and hundreds of soldiers and riot police, according to Xinhua correspondents. "All the electronic equipment including recorders, cameras and cell phones are not allowed to be brought in," he said. "Only authorized personnel and accredited journalists could enter the courtroom."
However, thousands of demonstrators launched marches outside the facility after the trial began, prompting a new wave of protests and clashes across the riot-stricken Arab country.
"They were holding Morsi's pictures, chanting anti-military slogans and calling for the reinstatement of Morsi," the correspondent said, adding that the demonstration was relatively peaceful.
Morsi's loyalists staged protests in main cities of Egypt almost every day after the armed forces forcibly cleared out two major pro-Morsi's sit-ins in mid-August, killing hundreds of people and injuring thousands of others.
Protesters also rallied before the Supreme Constitutional Court in southern Cairo, stopping the traffic of Corniche, one of the city's main road, MENA reported.
Security sources were quoted by MENA as saying that Morsi was transferred to the Borg el-Arab Prison in the country's northern coastal city of Alexandria.
