Morsi urges 'peaceful revolution' in leaked letter from prison

Ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi has released a statement from his prison cell urging the people of Egypt to “continue along the path” of revolution, a day after former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was declared to have won the presidential election with 96.9 percent of the vote.

In a letter smuggled out of prison during a recent visit with his son, Morsi addressed the Egyptian public saying “your revolution will triumph very soon”.

“You are backed by the overwhelming majority of the people, who expect you to set the revolutionary stage for them,” he said in the letter posted to his official Facebook page. “The revolution depends on you and I trust that you will raise its banner and deliver it to its glory,” he added.

Morsi called on protesters to continue their “peaceful revolution”. He acknowledged that he made mistakes while resisting “corruption and crime” in Egypt, but reiterated his commitment to continue his fight.

“I have never betrayed your trust and I shall never do so. I have spent years of my life confronting their crimes and I shall continue to do so for the rest of my life," he said.

The statement was shared on his official Twitter account, in the first tweet made from his account since 2 July last year when he was deposed in a military-led coup.

Military-backed interim authorities have cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood since the coup, designating the group a terrorist organisation and arresting the majority of its leaders. Over a 1000 protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces and more than 40,000 people jailed for political reasons according to Egyptian monitoring group Wikithawra.

Morsi currently faces four trials on a raft of charges. He is accused of being responsible for the deaths of protesters in December 2012, the murder of police officers during a jailbreak in the 2011 revolution, and is accused of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism in Egypt among other charges.

He has appeared defiant in court, refusing to recognise the legitimacy of the proceedings and insisting he is still the country’s rightful president. The letter released on Wednesday was signed off “head of the Arab Republic of Egypt”, emphasising his view that he is the country’s legitimate president.

Mohamed Soudan, Foreign Relations Secretary of Morsi’s Freedom and Justice Party, said the letter is an appeal for all Egyptians to stand up against the coup.

“This letter calls on all sincere Egyptians to oppose the coup,” Soudan said, adding, “resistance must remain peaceful in spite of attempts by the military to provoke the Egyptian people to turn to violent means”.

“Peacefulness is our strongest weapon.”

When asked about the potential for violence among a divided youth, Soudan said leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood urge protests to remain peaceful.

“Some people want to be violent, prompted by anger after seeing blood on the streets and knowing their friends have been tortured in the military prisons,” he said. “We, as leaders, try to calm them down and make them understand the peaceful struggle is the strongest form of resistance,” he added.

“There are no splits among our youth, they are just angry, and we will continue to direct them toward peaceful means of protest.”

Reaction on social media to the leaked letter was split, emphasising not only Egypt’s, but the region’s, deeply held divisions over the Muslim Brotherhood.

 Ex-army chief Sisi is due to be inaugurated as president of Egypt on 8 June, with the ceremony due to be attended by kings and heads of states at Cairo’s Ittihadiya palace.