Morsi Shows Perseverance İn New Message

Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Morsi said on Saturday that he continued to reject negotiation over what he called the "principles of the revolution" and the "blood of martyrs."



"I congratulate you on the occasion of the new Islamic year, while you maintain your revolution," Morsi allegedly said.



"I clearly declare that I had refused and continue to refuse all attempts to negotiate over the principles of the revolution and the blood of the martyrs," he purportedly added in a message published on his Facebook page.



Morsi's investment minister and his personal secretary Yehia Hamid – now in self-imposed exile – said in early June that he administered this Facebook page.



In the Facebook message, which he signed using the title the "President of the Arab Republic of Egypt", Morsi asked his followers not to recognize the "military coup", referring to his ouster at the hands of the Egyptian military after mass protests against his government last year.



It was not clear when the ousted president managed to leak his message out of his prison cell.



Morsi was put in jail after his ouster and he is being tried on multiple charges, including the murder of protesters, espionage for Qatar and the Palestinian faction Hamas and breaking out of his jail upon the 2011 revolution that ousted his predecessor Hosni Mubarak.



He did not reveal more information in his message about what he calls "negotiations". He said he was confident that the revolution would win at the end, adding that he would not leave his prison before his "sons" and "daughters" – in reference to thousands of his backers who were thrown in jail after his ouster – left their prisons as well.



"My life is not dearer to me than those of the martyrs of the revolution," Morsi said in the message.



This is the third message to be leaked by Morsi out of his prison cell and to be published on his Facebook page



Morsi's backers have been protesting his ouster since July last year, but a crackdown by the authorities had landed thousands of these backers in jail.



By Hussein Qabani



englishnews@aa.com.tr



www.aa.com.tr/en - Kahire