Ex-Egyptian President Dies in Court
Former president of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, was buried today, Tuesday 18 June – a day after he collapsed in an eastern Cairo courtroom and died.
Prior to his death, 67-year-old Morsi – who became Egypt’s first democratically elected president in 2012 before he was removed from office in 2013 following mass protests– was on trial on charges of espionage, related to having contact with the Palestinian Islamist group, Hamas.
Hamas allegedly has close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, a now-banned Islamist movement which chose Morsi as its presidential candidate during Egypt’s 2012 elections.
Appearing at a court hearing on Monday, 17 June, Morsi had spoken for five minutes from a soundproof glass cage before collapsing.
He was pronounced dead at the hospital wing of Tora Prison, with the cause of death attributed to a heart attack.
Morsi’s lawyer, Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud, confirmed that his client’s burial took place at the Al-Wafaa Wa al-Amal public cemetery in Cairo today.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International said that the Egyptian government bears responsibility for the death of Morsi, and has reportedly called for an impartial inquiry into the country’s seemingly appalling prison conditions.
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