Deposed Egyptian President Morsi Calls Protests ‘Useless’

Agrees that demonstrations against his imprisonment and trial are unproductive

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Egypt’s former president Mohammed Morsi described the street protests by his supporters as ‘useless,’ in a leaked phone conversation with his lawyer, the Guardian reports. The deposed leader also predicted that the man who overthrew him, Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, would himself be toppled by a coup if he runs for president.

In a conversation taped during Morsi’s trial earlier in February, his lawyer said that demonstrations by Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood supporters would achieve nothing, and that people must “sit down, talk and reach a solution, otherwise there is no point.” Morsi agreed, saying “It’s useless for both sides, no?”

Morsi is in prison near Alexandria, where he faces charges including espionage, terrorist conspiracy and incitement to violence — accusations his allies say are politically motivated. The leak is believed to have come from Egypt’s security authorities to make the Islamist former president seem weak.

He warned al-Sisi “whoever leads a coup must face a coup.”

[Guardian]