Egypt's President-Elect Takes Symbolic Oath In Tahrir Square

President-elect Muhammad Morsi

Egypt's Islamist President-elect Muhammad Morsi has symbolically sworn himself in before a huge crowd in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Addressing the crowd, he promised a "civilian state" and paid tribute to Egypt's Muslims and Christians alike.

Morsi paid tribute to the Egyptian people, whom he called "the source of power and legitimacy."

Morsi is due to be sworn in officially on June 30 before the Constitutional Court, as demanded by Egypt's ruling military council.

The military council will retain broad powers after it formally transfers power to Morsi, having already disbanded the Islamist-dominated parliament and taken over powers to pass legislation.

Morsi also vowed to work to free Omar Abdel-Rahman, the blind sheik jailed in the United States for a 1993 plot to blow up New York's World Trade Center.

Based on reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters