Former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi Dies in Court

Egypt’s former President Mohammed Morsi, ousted by the military in 2013 after one year in office, yesterday collapsed in a courtroom and died, officials said.

A top figure in the nowbanned Islamist movement Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi had just addressed the court from a cage at a hearing on charges of espionage.

Morsi, who was 67, had been in custody since his removal after mass protests.

The Muslim Brotherhood said the death was a “full-fledged murder” and called for crowds to gather at the funeral.

Activists and his family had long complained about his prison conditions, saying Morsi was not receiving treatment for serious health problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes, and was constantly being held under solitary confinement.

Morsi collapsed moments after addressing the court in Cairo at a hearing related to charges of espionage emanating from suspected contacts with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which had close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

He spoke for five minutes from a soundproof glass Mohammed Morsi cage which officials said was designed to prevent him disrupting proceedings.

The cause of death was not immediately confirmed but Egypt’s public prosecutor said an initial report showed no signs of recent injuries on the body.

Last month, his family said authorities had repeatedly denied access to him and that they knew little about his health conditions, a situation that “violated constitutions applied all over the world”.

In March last year, his youngest son, Abdullah, said officials were “doing this on purpose, since they want to see him dead ‘from natural causes’ as soon as possible”.

Morsi, who became Egypt’s first democratically elected leader after winning polls in 2012, had already been sentenced to more than 45 years in prison in three separate trials, including leading an outlawed group, detention and torture of anti-government protesters and leaking state secrets.

He had always rejected the authority of the courts, and his supporters denounced the trials as politically motivated and attempts to give legal cover to a coup based on unreliable witnesses and scant evidence.

The death of a leader, remembered by many as Egypt’s first democratically elected president, is certain to inflame passions among his supporters and allies in Egypt and beyond. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been quick to describe him as a martyr. Others are certain to do the same.

There has long been concern about the politicised trials which have kept him in prison, as well as his conditions of confinement. Morsi had a history of ill-health.

But last year, a British parliamentary panel reported he was being kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, which they concluded could be classified as torture. They warned this could lead to premature death.

His sudden collapse comes at a time when the United States, reportedly at the request of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, is working to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organisation. The death of one its most senior figures will deepen the anger and anxiety in this global Islamist movement.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice, said Morsi’s death amounted to an “assassination”, and urged supporters to demonstrate outside Egyptian embassies around the world.

“They placed him in solidarity confinement throughout his detention which exceeded five years, prevented medicine and provided poor food... They prevented doctors and lawyers and even communicating with his family. They deprived him from the simplest human rights.”