Morsi was reportedly denied treatment for his chronic diabetes while in prison. Today, he died after collapsing in court.
Former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, imprisoned since the military removed him from office in 2013, died Monday after collapsing in court, officials said, putting the nation’s authoritarian-minded government on the defensive over his treatment in custody.
But in Tahrir Square -- the epicenter of the Arab Spring protests that set in motion events that led to Morsi’s presidency – the mood was calm, with little obvious sign of extra police vigilance, although some street cafes were closed. On a nearby bridge over the Nile, Egyptian families were enjoying a night out, with vendors selling balloons and snacks.
The government’s violent 2013 crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters, which left hundreds dead and virtually all the movement’s major leaders jailed or in exile, fractured Egyptian society. "It's not a regular death,” said Mohamed Soudan, a Britain-based senior member of the Brotherhood’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party. “This is a murder, 100%.”
Human Rights Watch said it had been in the process of preparing a report on Morsi’s ill treatment in prison, and Sarah Leah Whitson, the executive director for the group’s Middle East and North Africa division, tweeted that the former president dying in custody was “entirely predictable.” In Egypt’s landmark 2012 election, Morsi wasn’t the Brotherhood’s first choice to stand as a presidential candidate. But its first choice fell through, and Morsi ended up not only as candidate but a dark-horse winner. His government, however, was inept and heavy-handed, and by the summer of 2013, there were massive street protests against him.
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