In his two-hour pleading before the Cairo Criminal Court on Sunday, ousted president Mohamed Morsi said that the criminal court is not competent to consider his espionage case because he is still Egypt's president.
Morsi said, "It is a great honor for me and the Muslim Brotherhood group to be accused of spying for Hamas movement".
He also stressed his respect for the Egyptian judges, saying that they played a vital role in facing corruption and revealing electoral fraud during Mubarak's reign.
Morsi and 35 other Brotherhood figures stand accused of collaborating with foreign organizations to commit acts of terrorism in Egypt, revealing defense secrets to a foreign country and funding terrorist organizations.