Egypt’s first democratically elected leader president Mohamed Morsi, 67, died Monday after collapsing in a Cairo court during his trial on charges of espionage
Fellow Muslim Brotherhood party members declare death of the ousted hardline president, ‘premeditated murder’
The 67-year-old former president who was ousted in a 2013 coup by current president, Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi, had been addressing a judge for 20 minutes before collapsing
Morsi died shortly after telling the judge that he had ‘many secrets’ that, if he told them, he would be released.
He ‘was not telling them [secrets], because it would harm Egypt’s national security’, the deposed leader said
Morsi reportedly became ‘very animated’ before collapsing in front of onlookers
Mohamed Morsi whose 2015 death sentence was thrown out on retrial, had been serving a seven-year sentence for falsifying election papers in 2012
Former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi has died in court, state television reported on Monday
Egypt’s former president Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood leader who rose to office in the country’s first free elections in 2012 and was ousted a year later by the military, has collapsed in court during a trial and died, state TV and his family said.
The 67-year-old had just addressed the court, speaking from the glass cage he is kept in during sessions and warning that he had ‘many secrets’ he could reveal, a judicial official said.
A few minutes afterwards he collapsed, the official said.
State TV said Mr Morsi died before he could be taken to hospital.
Monday’s session was part of a retrial, being held inside Cairo’s Tura Prison, on charges of espionage with the Palestinian Hamas militant group.
Morsi’s son Ahmed confirmed the death of his father in a Facebook post.
Mohammed Sudan, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood now living in the UK, described Mr Morsi’s death as ‘premeditated murder’, saying that the former president was banned from receiving medicine or visits and there was little information about his health condition.
‘He has been placed behind a glass cage [during trials]. No-one can hear him or know what is happening to him. He hasn’t received any visits for a months or nearly a year. He complained before that he doesn’t get his medicine. This is premeditated murder. This is slow death.’
The judicial official said the former president had asked to speak to the court during the session.
The judge permitted it, and Morsi gave a speech saying he had ‘many secrets’ that, if he told them, he would be released, but he added that he was not telling them because it would harm Egypt’s national security.
Defiant deposed Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, appeared inside a cage in the Cairo courtroom where he was sentenced to death on June 15, 2015
Morsi was a longtime senior figure in Egypt’s most powerful Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood.
He was elected in 2012 in the country’s first free presidential election, held a year after an Arab Spring uprising ousted Egypt’s longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.
His Muslim Brotherhood also held a majority in parliament.
The military, led by then-defence minister Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, ousted Mr Morsi after massive protests against the Brotherhood’s domination of power.
Mr El-Sissi was subsequently elected president and has waged a massive crackdown on Islamists and other opponents since.
Since Mr Morsi’s ousting, Egypt’s government has declared the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation and largely crushed it with a heavy crackdown.
Tens of thousands of Egyptians have been arrested since 2013, mainly Islamists but also secular activists who were behind the 2011 uprising.
He has been sentenced to 20 years after being convicted of ordering Brotherhood members to break up a protest against him, resulting in deaths.
Ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi sits in the defendant’s cage during a court hearing in Cairo, Egypt, in Nov, 2014
The Muslim Brotherhood leader was sentenced to death in June 2015 in connection with a mass jail break during Egypt’s 2011 uprising.
The first president to be democratically elected after the revolution, Morsi was overthrown in mid-2013 by general-turned-president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during mass protests against his rule, and immediately arrested.
An Egyptian court in June 2015, sentenced toppled Islamist president and Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi to death in connection with a mass jail break during Egypt’s 2011 uprising.
Two years his death sentence was overturned, a retrial was ordered. The death sentence was thrown out in the retrial. Morsi was no longer under threat of execution, although he began serving three long jail sentences.
He had been sentenced to 20 years in prison without parole on charges arising from the killing of protesters in December 2012; 40 years on charges of spying for Qatar; and a life sentence on charges of spying for the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
Multiple cases are still pending.
Morsi was held in a special wing in the sprawling Tora detention complex nicknamed Scorpion Prison.
Rights groups say its poor conditions fall far below Egyptian and international standards.
An Egyptian court in June 2015, sentenced toppled Islamist president and Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi to death in connection with a mass jail break during Egypt’s 2011 uprising. The death sentence was later overturned and replaced with stiff prison terms, including life in prison
The former leader’s son Ahmed confirmed the death of his father in a Facebook post.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid tribute to Morsi after news of his death broke – calling him a ‘martyr.’
‘May Allah rest our Morsi brother, our martyr’s soul in peace,’ said Erdogan, who had forged close ties with Morsi.
Relations between Turkey and Egypt have been virtually non-existent since the Egyptian military, led by current president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, in 2013 ousted Islamist president Morsi.
Erdogan has strongly denounced Morsi’s ouster and called for the release of Muslim Brotherhood prisoners in Egypt.
Speaking in Istanbul, Erdogan again took aim at Sisi, calling him a ‘tyrant’ who took power in a ‘coup’ and who has trampled on democracy.
‘The West has remained silent,’ Erdogan said.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said: ‘The coup moved him (Morsi) away from the power but his memory will not be erased.’
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