Deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi said yesterday he was kidnapped by the Republican Guard the day before the army announced his removal and was later held at a naval base for four months.

Few details had previously emerged on Morsi’s whereabouts since army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi overthrew him and announced plans for elections.

Lawyer Mohamed Damati read on TV what he said was a letter from the Islamist leader, who is still being detained, to the Egyptian people. For the first time, Morsi indicated he was held against his will as early as July 2, a day before the army announced his removal following mass protests against his rule.

“The kind Egyptian people should know that I have been kidnapped forcibly and against my will since July 2 and until July 5 in a Republican Guard house until I and my aide were moved again forcibly to a naval base belonging to the armed forces for four full months,” Morsi was quoted as saying.

Morsi and other Islamists appeared in court on November 4 on charges of inciting violence in connection with the death of about a dozen protesters at the presidential palace in December.

The letter marked the first time outside the courtroom that the authorities have allowed Morsi, who accuses the army of staging a coup, to tell his side of the story.

“Egypt will not recover until everything that happened due to this coup goes away... and the holding to account those who spilled blood everywhere on the nation’s land,” Morsi said.

Meanwhile yesterday a government minister said Egypt will lift a state of emergency and nightly curfews today, three months after the army enforced the measures amid bloody turmoil that followed its overthrow of an Islamist president.