EGYPT’S FORMER PRESIDENT MORSI BURIED IN CAIRO

Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi Is Quietly Buried after Sudden Courtroom Death. Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Islamist leader Mohammed Morsi, was buried under heavy security early on Tuesday, a day after his dramatic collapse and death inside a glass cage of a Cairo courtroom. “He was buried in Medinat Nasr, in eastern Cairo, with his family present,” said Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud, one of his lawyer. 

Morsi’s family attended funeral prayers in the mosque of Cairo’s Tora prison, followed by the burial at a cemetery in the city’s western district of Nasr City, said Abdul-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud, a member of Morsi’s defense team. Morsi, also the country’s first civilian president had appeared “animated” during a hearing in a retrial over charges of collaborating with foreign powers and militant groups, judicial and security.

“The court granted him his request to speak for five minutes. He fell to the ground in the cage… and was transported immediately to the hospital. A medical report found no pulse or breathing,” said the attorney general’s office. “He arrived at the hospital dead at 4:50 pm exactly and there were no new, visible injuries found on the body.” “We heard the banging on the glass cage from the rest of the other inmates and those screaming loudly that Morsi had died,” the lawyer, Osama El Helw, told AFP.

Morsi, who was 67, had been in custody since his removal from office in 2013. Human rights groups, who had criticized the conditions in which he was kept, have called for an impartial investigation into his death. His family and activists had repeatedly raised concerns about his health and the amount of time he was kept in solitary confinement, away from visits by lawyers and family. His son, Abdullah Mohamed Morsi, told Reuters on Monday that Egyptian authorities had denied a family request for a public funeral in his hometown.

During his years in prison, Morsi, who was known to have diabetes, was often held in solitary confinement and was largely barred from receiving visitors. His family was only allowed to visit three times. While in detention, Morsi continued to appear in court on a range of charges. Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood on Monday accused the government of “assassinating” him through years of poor prison conditions. The group demanded an international investigation into Morsi’s death and called on Egyptians to protest outside Egypt’s embassy across the world.

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