Morsi: my removal was treason against Egypt

Morsi said he was 'kidnapped' on July 2 at the height of protests against his rule [Reuters]

Egypt's deposed president, Mohamed Morsi, has said he was kidnapped by the military and those who removed him from power of committing "treason against the whole nation".

A group of volunteer lawyers, not Morsi's defence lawyers, read the message from Morsi at a news conference on Wednesday, a day after they met him in prison.
Morsi said he intended to sue the army-installed authorities, and that there can be no stability in Egypt unless "the military coup is eliminated and those responsible for shedding Egyptians' blood are held accountable".
In the letter, Morsi said he was "kidnapped" and held by the Republican Guard on July 2 - a day before he was formally removed by the military. He said he was held at a naval base for four months.
Morsi was moved to a high security prison in Alexandria on November 4 after the first session of his trial on charges of incitement to murder protesters in December 2012.
Mohamed al-Damati, one of the lawyers Morsi met, said: "The president plans to take legal measures against the coup, and this will be up to the defence team in the near future."
Morsi has so far not agreed on which lawyers will represent him at the trial, which is set to resume on January 8.
Rory Challands, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Cairo, said: "He is still saying essentially that the court is illegitimate and that it doesn't have the authority to do what it's doing.
"In taking a defiant tone, not naming legal council, he's leaving hismelf essentially defenceless in the courtroom."