Egypt’s former leader Morsi passes away in court

CAIRO: Former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi died on Monday in a Cairo hospital ater fainting during a session in court, judicial and security sources said.

“He was speaking before the judge for 20 minutes then became very animated and fainted. He was quickly rushed to the hospital where he later died,” a judicial source said.

State television said Morsi, who was 67, was in court for a hearing on charges of espionage emanating from suspected contacts with the Palestinian Hamas group Hamas.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a strong ally of the hardliner president during his brief tenure as Egypt’s leader, paid tribute to Morsi and called him a “martyr.”

The official Al Ahram news website also reported the death of Morsi, 67.

The leader has been in prison since his ouster on trial for several cases including for spying for Iran, Qatar and groups such as Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

He was also accused of ploting terror acts. Morsi was sentenced to death in May 2015 for his role in jailbreaks during the uprising that ousted his predecessor, longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak.

A veteran activist and engineering professor, Morsi was among the Brotherhood leaders detained during the 18-day anti-mubarak revolt in 2011, escaping with thousands of inmates who broke out of prison. The son of a farmer, he was not the Brotherhood’s first choice for president.

Nicknamed “The Spare Tyre,” Morsi emerged as a compromise candidate to run in Egypt’s first democratic presidential election in 2012.

Hailing from the movement’s political wing -- the Freedom and Justice Party -- he was put forward ater one of the Brotherhood’s powerful financiers, Khairat al-shater, was disqualified on technical grounds.

Many voters chose Morsi in a protest vote against Mubarak’s last prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, and he narrowly won.

When taking office in June 2012, the bearded and bespectacled promised to be president “of all Egyptians” and was received in Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square.