Death of Morsi: What Happened in Court

An emblematic figure of the now banned Islamist movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Morsi became the first democratically elected Egyptian leader in 2012.

But his reign was short-lived. A year later, he was ousted and detained during a military coup as a result of mbadive demonstrations against his power.

Morsi was appearing in Cairo on Monday for spying charges related to alleged contacts with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

Officials said that he had asked to address the jury and that he had been speaking for about five minutes from a soundproof glbad cage where he was being detained with children. other defendants.

A few minutes later, he apparently fainted during an interruption of the proceedings.

"He was transferred to a hospital where he was declared dead," said the Egyptian prosecutor in a statement.

Officials said that a medico-legal report had been ordered regarding his death and insisted that no new visible injuries had been found on his body.

The state television had previously described the cause of death as a heart attack.

Morsi had already spent decades in prison after being sentenced to three more trials.

Previously, he had been sentenced to death and then canceled.

Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa division, tweeted that her death was "terrible but quite predictable".

"The death of former President Morsi came after years of mistreatment, prolonged solitary confinement, inadequate medical care and deprivation of family visits and access to a lawyer. said Whitston in a statement.

The group called on the UN to open an investigation into what he described as "gross violations of human rights in Egypt, including widespread ill-treatment in prisons."

Amnesty International has also called for an impartial investigation.

The human rights group said that Morsi had been allowed only three visits from his family in nearly six years of solitary confinement and was not allowed to do so. had not been allowed to consult a lawyer or a doctor.

The Muslim Brotherhood political party, the Freedom and Justice Party, described Morsi's death as "badbadination".

Turkish President Erdogan blamed his death on Egyptian "tyrants" and described him as a martyr.

The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, another ally of the deceased leader, expressed his "deep sorrow" at the death of the latter.

British MP Crispin Blunt, who led a group of politicians who warned in 2018 about the conditions of Morsi's detention, called for an "independent and reputable international investigation".

Born in the village of El-Adwah in 1951, Morsi studied engineering at Cairo University in the 1970s before moving to the United States to complete his Ph.D.

He was selected as a candidate for the presidency of the Muslim Brotherhood for the 2012 elections after the movement's preferred choice was forced to withdraw. During his tumultuous tenure, Morsi was accused of organizing a coup of the Islamic State and mismanaging the economy.

Public opposition to his government increased and millions of anti-government protesters took to the streets of Egypt to mark the first anniversary of his inauguration on June 30, 2013.

Three days later, the army suspended the constitution, announced the establishment of an interim government before the new elections and arrested Morsi, who described the coup as a coup.

Then, the head of the army, Mr. Sisi, was elected president in 2014 and re-elected last year in advocacy groups called "wacky".

Hundreds of people were killed and tens of thousands arrested during the crackdown that followed.