As the world mourns the death of Egypt’s first democratically-elected leader Mohamed Mursi, who died on Monday from a heart attack after collapsing in a Cairo court while on trial for espionage charges, prominent figures of the Arab community stated that the former president’s death was not as accidental as it seems.
Libya’s Chairman of the High Council of State Khalid al-Mishri slammed the current putschist regime of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, saying that Mursi’s death was the result of a years-long assassination operation.”
“The assassination began with a coup against the legitimate administration, continued with him being confined to a solitary cell, and finally ended with his being deprived of his basic rights, including medical treatment,” al-Mishri stated.
While Tunisia’s former president couldn’t hold back his tears, Turkey’s Erdoğan said, “Mursi is a martyr for his cause, and history will not forget the tyrants who caused his death”.
The Turkish president also slammed the West for turning a blind eye to executions and cruelty of current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who came to power after he ousted Mursi in 2013 with a military coup.
The Muslim Brotherhood described Mursi's death as a "full-fledged murder" and called for masses to gather at his funeral in Egypt and outside Egyptian embassies around the world.
Mursi's family previously said his health had deteriorated in prison and that they were rarely allowed to visit.
A medical source said Mursi died of a heart attack.
The 67-year-old Mursi, a top figure in the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, had been in jail since being toppled after barely a year in power, following mass protests against his rule.
A source who was in the court at the time said that Mursi spoke for around 15 minutes and concluded with a line of poetry about his love for Egypt, before collapsing as the other defendants began banging on the soundproof cage.