Members of Egypt's now-dissolved Islamist-led Shura Council (parliament upper house) reject the legality of any action taken following what they describe as a military coup d'etat against the elected president Morsi – including the dissolution of their parliament.

"We affirm that Egypt’s constitution is still in effect, and that the military council can’t halt the constitution which the Egyptian people agreed upon in a fair and free referendum," reads the statement made by Shura Council MPs Saturday, where they gathered at the pro-Morsi sit-in in Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square in Cairo.

Mohamed Morsi was deposed on 3 July by Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and the head of the High Constitutional Court (HCC) Adly Mansour was declared interim president, who issued a presidential decree dissolving the Islamist-heavy Shura Council. The Islamists PM's, however are defiant.

"We declare our insistence that the Shura Council is legal and that it may not be dissolved by a military coup," the statement said, which went on to call on "all the world's parliaments to support the Egyptian people who lost their constitutional institutions because a regime staged a coup d'état against their new democracy."

MPs further insisted that they are holding meetings at the sit-in to discuss how to "end the military coup, reinstate the elected president and restore democratic civilian rule."

Tens of thousands of Morsi supporters remain in front of Rabaa Al-Adawiya Mosque for the third week demanding the Morsi's reinstatement, the Muslim Brotherhood senior figure who was elected in June 2012 becoming Egypt's first post-Mubarak president.

Transcription:

We, members of the Egyptian Shura Council convening in Raba Al-Adawiya Square, announce the following to the Egyptian people who conducted the revolution of 25 January 2011: 

We affirm the legitimacy of people's will as evidenced by several elections and referendums that confirmed the people's desire to establish a state of civil constitutional, modern, free, sovereign democracy.

We affirm that the military coup overthrew the Egyptian people's hopes to complete their democratic institutions and demolished all of their achievements; i.e. the constitution, the president and the Shura Council.

We affirm that all actions that followed the military coup, such as the constitutional declaration, are null and void and they establish dictatorship. In addition, other measures, such as gagging and arrest campaigns, show how dangerous the consequences of such a coup will be. 

We emphasize our adherence to peaceful activities and call on the Egyptian people of all categories to rally around the single goal of ousting military rule and all invalid measures that resulted from the coup, like removing the president, halting the constitution and dissolving the Shura Council. We call upon Egyptians to participate in all peaceful events, demonstrations, sit-ins, etc; so the peoples' will can prevail.

What Minister of Defence Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi committed is considered a coup against legitimacy, an attack against the achievements of the January 25 Revolution and an attempt to reinstate the corrupt dictator of the pre-revolution regime.

We call on the Egyptian army and all the faithful to be cautious about the danger facing our country because of the military coup.

We extend our consolation and sympathy to the families of martyred and injured in the massacres committed in front of the Republican Guard Club, in El-Nahdha Square [near Cairo University], in Alexandria [Egypt's second-largest city] and in other governorates. We declare that we will go after those who are responsible for such massacres locally and internationally.