Sisi to be sworn in Sunday; ex-president Morsi calls on supporters to defy 'coup'

UN's Ban congratulates Sisi after election win and invites him to attend the UN General Assembly meeting in September.

By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON
General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi 370 (photo credit: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)
General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi 370
(photo credit: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)
Former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is set to be sworn in as president on Sunday after an overwhelming election victory while the supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi are set to hold protests.
The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy, whose members are supporters of the former president, called for protests to begin Friday and continue until Sisi’s inauguration on Sunday, the Ahram Online news site reported.
“We will continue the wave of protests that initially started on 3 July,” the group said on Wednesday.
The government announced that public workers will have the day off on Sunday.
Former president Morsi released a statement from prison on Wednesday evening, which was published on his Facebook page, as well as on the website of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, calling on Egyptians to resist the coup.
“Tread the path of your peaceful revolution steady as mountains, with steely resolve and steadfast determination. Your revolution will very soon be victorious, God willing,” Morsi said.
“Behind you, an overwhelming majority of the people is waiting for you to lead them in a crushing wave, just as they showed the world the deafening silence of their positive boycott of the illegitimate election that aimed to put the coup leader more effectively in power,” he added.
“I never spared any effort in fighting corruption and criminality, through legal procedures and revolutionary actions. I was right. And I was wrong. But I never betrayed you or this homeland, and I never will,” said the statement.
Meanwhile, an Egyptian court sentenced one Muslim Brotherhood member to life in prison and 28 others to one- to 10-year long sentences on Thursday for disrupting public order, protesting without prior governmental approval, hindering traffic, and affiliation with a banned group, the Egypt Independent website reported.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated Sisi by phone on his election victory and invited him to attend the General Assembly meeting in September.
Separately, violence in Sinai persisted as the army continued its battle against the Islamist insurgency, killing seven jihadists and destroying 10 hideouts, Ahram Online quoted the MENA news agency as reporting. The jihadists were killed as they tried to attack a security convoy late on Wednesday.