CAIRO – Before entering the prison, Mohamed al-Damati, a spokesman for the lawyers representing the other trial defendants, said they planned to discuss legal strategy with Morsi given the latter’s refusal to accept formal representation.
Lawyers arrived at Alexandria’s Burg al-Arab Prison on Tuesday to meet with detained ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
Security has been stepped up at the prison, with vehicles barred from parking within a two-kilometer radius and police cars patrolling the parameters of the facility, an Anadolu Agency correspondent reported from the scene.
Morsi was flown to the maximum-security prison last week after appearing in court with seven other defendants to answer charges that he had incited the murder of demonstrators last year.
Morsi has refused to recognize the trial’s legitimacy and has thus far refused to accept legal representation.
Before entering the prison, Mohamed al-Damati, a spokesman for the lawyers representing the other trial defendants, said they planned to discuss legal strategy with Morsi given the latter’s refusal to accept formal representation.
Under Egyptian law, the court must provide a criminal defendant with a lawyer if the defendant fails to do so.
Al-Damati had earlier said that the legal team, which includes Morsi’s son Osama, would attempt to convince the ousted leader to appoint a lawyer for his defense, otherwise the court would assign one to him.
If Morsi agreed to name a defense team, this would not mean that he recognized the trial’s legality or that he had relinquished his constitutional legitimacy, al-Damati said.
Reporting by Islam Tawfik
