Egypt's ousted leader
Mohammed Morsi has gone on trial in Cairo, telling the judge the case is
illegitimate as he remains president.
He and 14 other Muslim Brotherhood figures face charges of
inciting the killing of protesters outside the presidential palace in
2012.
After Mr Morsi's remarks and his refusal to wear a uniform, the judge adjourned the trial until 8 January.
He was then flown to Burj al-Arab prison in Alexandria.
Security officials told the BBC Mr Morsi was transferred after registration to the prison hospital for a routine medical check.
He is awaiting a medical report which will determine whether he will be sent to a cell or kept at the hospital, they added.
Earlier reports had suggested that he would be taken to Tora
prison on the outskirts of Cairo. Until now he had been held at a secret
military location.
Protests took place outside the court and elsewhere in Cairo.
Protests took place outside the court and elsewhere in Cairo.
Mr Morsi was ousted by the military in July after protests against his rule.
Early on Monday Mr Morsi was brought into the sprawling
Police Academy compound by helicopter. Other defendants, including Essam
el-Erian, Mohammed al-Beltagi and Ahmed Abdel Aatie, were said to have
arrived in armoured personnel carriers.
No television pictures were broadcast from the court although
journalists were allowed in for the former president's first public
appearance since he was deposed on 3 July.
As he entered the courtroom, Mr Morsi refused to remove his
blue suit and put on the required white prison uniform. The defendants,
who were being held in a cage in the courtroom, chanted "illegal,
illegal".
When asked to give his name, the former president gave a defiant response, according to reporters inside the court.
"I am Dr Mohammed Morsi, the president of the
republic. I am Egypt's legitimate president. You have no right to
conduct a trial into presidential matters."
The judge twice temporarily halted proceedings before adjourning the case until January.
Before the trial began Mr el-Erian, a deputy leader of the
Brotherhood's political wing, told the BBC that one of his fellow
defendants had been mistreated with some kind of water torture and had
been beaten until he was on the point of collapse.
Mr Morsi and the 14 other members of the Muslim Brotherhood
had been widely expected to use the occasion to underline what they see
as the illegitimacy of his removal from power.
Police had to step in at one point because of heckling in the
court. The BBC's Orla Guerin says some of those attending the trial,
including women journalists, shouted that the defendants should be given
the death penalty.
The trial had been due to take place at Tora prison on the
other side of Cairo but had been switched late on Sunday, apparently to
deter protesters.
Shortly after Mr Morsi's arrival, a small crowd arrived and
began chanting outside the police compound more than one hour's drive
from the centre of the city.
The crowd soon grew and protesters were briefly seen on state TV
chanting slogans against army chief Gen Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led Mr
Morsi's removal from power. Demonstrators shouted at a state TV crew
and chanted "liars" before chasing them and pelting them with stones.
Other protests took place in Cairo itself, outside the High Court in
the centre of the city and at the Supreme Constitutional Court in the
south.
While state institutions were said to have opened normally on
Monday, some private schools had told parents to keep their children at
home.
BBC-
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