Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 18 June 2019

Egypt’s ousted president Morsi dies in court during trial

By SAMY MAGDY nopolize power, enshrine militant group. Morsi was his detention which ex- erhood and instead rose
Associated Press an Islamist constitution and held in a special wing in ceeded 5 years, prevented through its ranks as an ef-
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s for- using violence against op- Tora nicknamed Scorpion medicine and provided ficient, if lackluster, loyalist.
mer president, Mohammed The group only put him
Morsi, the Muslim Brother- forward as its presidential
hood leader who rose to candidate in 2012 after a
office in the country’s first more prominent and pow-
free elections in 2012 and erful figure, Khairat al-Shat-
was ousted a year later er, was declared ineligible
by the military, collapsed to run.
in court during a trial and When elected, he made
died Monday, state TV and gestures toward the secu-
his family said. lar pro-democracy activ-
The 67-year-old Morsi had ists who led the 2011 Arab
just addressed the court, Spring uprising. But over the
speaking from the glass course of the year, oppo-
cage he is kept in during nents accused his Brother-
sessions and warning that hood of hijacking the revo-
he had “many secrets” he lution and using elections to
could reveal, a judicial of- entrench their own control.
ficial said. A few minutes Major protests erupted, par-
afterward, he collapsed in ticularly over the process
the cage, the official said, of writing a new constitu-
speaking on condition of tion in which critics said the
anonymity because he Brotherhood was sidelining
was not authorized to talk other factions and allowing
to the press. Islamists to write a charter
In his final comments, he largely on their terms.
continued to insist he was In this July 13, 2012 photo, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi holds a news conference with Brotherhood supporters
Egypt’s legitimate presi- Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki, at the Presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt. cracked down violently on
dent, demanding a special Associated Press some protests.
tribunal, one of his defense Still, the Brotherhood never
lawyers, Kamel Madour ponents, and soon massive Prison. Rights groups say its poor food,” it said. “They managed to control all le-
told the Associated Press. protests grew against their poor conditions fall far be- prevented doctors and vers of power, facing op-
State TV said Morsi died be- rule. In July 2013, the military low Egyptian and interna- lawyers and even com- position within courts and in
fore he could be taken to — led by then-Defense Min- tional standards. Morsi was municating with his family. the powerful security forc-
the hospital. ister, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi known to suffer from diabe- They deprived him from the es. As protests grew, the
The Brotherhood accused — ousted Morsi, dissolved tes. simplest human rights.” military stepped in: Army
the government of “assassi- parliament and eventually Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle The judicial official said commandos took him and
nating” Morsi through years banned the Brotherhood East director with the Hu- Morsi had asked to speak other Brotherhood leaders
of poor prison conditions as a “terrorist group.” man Rights Watch, said in to the court during Mon- into custody.
during which he was often El-Sissi was elected presi- a tweet that Morsi’s death day’s session. The judge The subsequent crackdown
kept in solitary and barred dent and re-elected in was “terrible but entirely permitted it, and Morsi has all but completely dis-
from visits. Egypt’s chief 2018 in votes human rights predictable” given the gave a speech saying he mantled the Brotherhood,
prosecutor said a team of groups sharply criticized as government “failure to al- had “many secrets” that, with hundreds killed and
forensic experts would ex- undemocratic. low him adequate medi- if he told them, he would thousands imprisoned, with
amine Morsi’s body to de- He was waged a ferocious cal care, much less family be released, but he added most other active figures
termine the cause of his crackdown that crushed visits.” that he wasn’t telling them fleeing abroad.
death. the Brotherhood but also Morsi’s son, Ahmed, con- because it would harm Throughout his trials, Mor-
It was a dramatic end for almost all other dissent, ar- firmed the death of his fa- Egypt’s national security. si insisted he remained
a figure who was central in resting tens of thousands, ther in a Facebook post, Madour, the defense law- Egypt’s legitimate presi-
the twists and turns taken banning protests and si- saying, “We will meet again yer, said Morsi spoke for dent. In early court sessions
by Egypt since its “revolu- lencing most criticism in the with God.” around five minutes before he gave angry speeches
tion” — the pro-democracy media, while the military Mohammed Sudan, lead- collapsing inside the cage. until judges ordered him
uprising that in 2011 ousted has come to dominate pol- ing member of the Muslim “He was very calm and or- kept in a glass cage during
the country’s longtime au- itics behind the scenes. Brotherhood in London, ganized. sessions where they could
thoritarian leader, Hosni Since his ouster, Morsi and said Morsi was banned He summarized our argu- turn off his audio.
Mubarak. other Brotherhood leaders from receiving medicine or ment in three to five min- In audio leaked from a
Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, have been in prison, put visits and there was little in- utes. He insisted on a spe- 2017 session of one of his tri-
Egypt’s most powerful Is- on multiple and lengthy tri- formation about his health cial tribunal as he is the als, Morsi complained that
lamist group, won the elec- als. Morsi was sentenced condition. president of the republic,” he was “completely isolat-
tions held after Mubarak’s to 20 years in prison on “This is premeditated mur- Madour said. ed” from the court, unable
fall, considered the first charges of ordering Broth- der. This is slow death.” A spokesman for the Inte- to see or hear his defense
free votes the country had erhood members to break Freedom and Justice, the rior Ministry did not answer team, his eyes pained by
seen. First, they gained a up a protest against him, Brotherhood’s political arm, calls seeking comment. lighting inside the cage.
majority in parliament, then resulting in deaths. Mul- said in a statement on its Morsi, an engineer who “I don’t know where I am,”
Morsi squeaked to victory in tiple cases are still pend- Facebook page that prison studied at the University of he is heard saying in the
presidential elections held ing. Monday’s session was conditions led to Morsi’s Southern California, was an audio.
in 2012, becoming the first part of a retrial, being held death in what amounted unlikely figure to be thrust “It’s steel behind steel and
civilian to hold the office. inside Cairo’s Tora Prison, to “assassination.” into Egypt’s central stage. glass behind glass. The re-
Critics accused the Broth- on charges of espionage “They placed him in solidar- He was never considered flection of my image makes
erhood of seeking to mo- with the Palestinian Hamas ity confinement throughout a major thinker in the Broth- me dizzy.”q