Egypt’s ousted president Mohammed Mursi dies in court after warning he had ‘many secrets’ to reveal
- Mursi’s death drew swift and inevitable attention to the country’s harsh jailhouse conditions and the plight of its many political prisoners
Mohammed Mursi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, collapsed in court and died Monday while facing trial, prompting supporters and human rights activists and to demand an impartial probe into his death. The United Nations has also called for an “independent” investigation.
Egyptian state TV said his death was due to a cardiac arrest. He was buried early Tuesday in Cairo’s western district of Nasr City.
Mursi, 67, had been imprisoned since 2013, when his elected government was overthrown in a military coup led by the country’s then-military leader, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who is now president.
As news of his death spread, a chorus of Mursi’s backers, allies and watchdog groups raised questions about his treatment in prison.
The former president was known to have been suffering from several ailments, including diabetes and liver disease.
A panel of British politicians and lawyers concluded last year that Mursi had received “inadequate medical care” and found that the conditions of detention could meet the threshold for “torture”.
