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| Africa North | ||
| Mursi calls for revolution as trial adjourned | ||
| 2014-02-24 | ||
Egypt's deposed president Mohammed Mursi on Saturday urged supporters from a courtroom dock to continue their "revolution", as a protest movement demanding his reinstatement shrinks before a fierce police crackdown.
Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood still stages diminishing weekly protests despite a crackdown that has killed more than 1,400 people since the military overthrew him in July, after just one year in office. "The revolution of the people won't stop -- continue your peaceful revolution," said Mursi during the second hearing of the trial, one of three under way for the deposed leader. Speaking from inside a glass cage, Mursi also insisted that he remains the "president" of Egypt. "I am present here by force," he said.
"The head of the coup, the defence minister, has killed more than 3,000 people in the streets. He is the one who killed them and it was not investigated, but he will be held accountable," said Mursi. Defence lawyer Kamal Mandour demanded that Sisi be investigated for "toppling the regime" of Mursi and for detaining him. Another defence lawyer, Mohamed Abu Leila, asked the panel of judges to withdraw from the trial. Mursi and 130 other defendants including Palestinian and Lebanese militants are charged with organising jailbreaks and attacking police stations during the 2011 revolt against Mubarak. The defendants chanted "Down with the military" and flashed the four-finger salute associated with a pro-Mursi protest camp in which hundreds were killed in a police operation last August. The trial was adjourned to February 24. | ||
| Posted by:Steve White |