CAIRO
A major pro-democracy group has called for protests on Tuesday in a show of support for ousted president Mohamed Morsi, whose trial on charges of inciting the killing of protesters resumes later in the day.
In a statement, the National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy called on its followers to rally "outside the courthouse [where Morsi is tried], Egypt's courts and in squares" to show solidarity for the deposed leader.
Morsi – along with 14 other defendants, including several high-ranking Muslim Brotherhood leaders –face charges of inciting the murder of opposition demonstrators outside Cairo's Ittihadiya presidential palace in late 2012.
Seven of the defendants are being tried in absentia.
Morsi, the country's first democratically elected leader, was removed from office by Egypt's military last July following protests against his presidency.
The ousted leader has since been detained pending trial on multiple charges, which he – along with other defendants in the various cases against him – says are politically motivated.
Morsi insists that he still represents Egypt's legitimate president and has refused to recognize the trial's legitimacy.
By Islam Mosaad
englishnews@aa.com.tr
