Morsi Denounces Coup, Accuses Captors of Treason
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Sean Gallup/Getty Images(CAIRO) — The former president of Egypt says in a letter that those who have imprisoned him are guilty of treason.
Mohamed Morsi’s message from jail, which was read by one of his attorneys Wednesday, denounced the “coup” by the military last July that led to his removal from power. The Islamist leader is facing murder charges along with other associates for an incident that occurred in late 2012.
According to Morsi, he has not been negotiating with Egypt’s military to find an end to the political impasse that has essentially paralyzed the country over the past five months.
Meanwhile, Morsi, who only spent one year in office, alleged that military strongman Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi committed “treason against the constitution and the people.”
He called his ouster “a coup” and said that Egypt will be unable to move forward until he is returned to office.
Morsi has millions of followers who continue to support him but the interim government has made fast work of weakening his Muslim Brotherhood party that brought him to power in 2012.
Critics say that Egypt has returned to the authoritarian days of former President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted by a popular revolution in February 2011. However, Morsi’s detractors said he had to go because he was steering the country toward a strict Islamist path with little concern for economic and social issues.
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