Riyaz Patel
British MP Crispin Blunt has condemned the conditions Egypt’s Islamist ex-president Mohamed Mursi was held in during his imprisonment.
Mursi, the first democratically elected head of state in Egypt’s modern history, died on Monday after suffering a fatal heart attack in court.
Mursi was buried in a small family ceremony Tuesday as supporters posted messages of grief and anger.
The first democratically elected head of state in Egypt’s modern history, who was deposed by the army in 2013, was laid to rest in Cairo next to the graves of other leaders of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, his son Abdullah Mohamed Mursi told Reuters.
Blunt said Mursi’s treatment was so bad ”they might sustain a charge of torture.”
The Muslim Brotherhood has described Mursi’s death as a “full-fledged murder” and called for mass gatherings to mark his passing. Egyptian officials have denied accusations that his health was neglected.
Mursi died on Monday after collapsing in a Cairo court while on trial on espionage charges, authorities and a medical source said. The 67-year-old had been in jail since being toppled after barely a year in power.
Mursi had been sentenced to more than 40 years in prison in separate trials, including for leading an outlawed group, spying for foreign country and terrorism. He and other imprisoned Brotherhood leaders have rejected the rulings and denounced the trials as politically motivated to justify Mursi’s overthrow.
Amnesty International has called for an investigation.
A British parliamentary panel said last year that Mursi received inadequate medical treatment for his diabetes and liver illness and was being kept in solitary confinement, which they warned could put his life in danger.
“Mohamed Mursi) conditions were so bad that they might sustain a charge of torture”
Speaking outside the UK’s Houses of Parliament today, Blunt, who last year led a delegation of UK lawmakers and lawyers in drafting a report on Mursi’s detention, slammed the conditions of his incarceration:
”Well we were clear in our report that his (Mohamed Mursi) conditions were so bad that they might sustain a charge of torture, a crime of universal jurisdiction.”
“So we were saying and clearly pointing out that the responsibility if his conditions were so bad that they did amount to torture, and remember he was being completely isolated, there was no bed to sleep on, two blankets was all he was given, three visits from his family it would appear over six years,” Blunt added.
