World reaction over Morsi’s death

Cairo (QNN)- Egypt’s first democratically-elected president Mohammed Morsi has died aged 67 after collapsing in a Cairo court while on trial on espionage charges, according to authorities.

His death comes six years after he was overthrown by the military after his one-year rule.

The incident has prompted reactions and messages of condolence all across the globe, with world leaders expressing their shock for his sudden death.

Hamas payed a tribute to Morsi’s courageous positions on Gaza during the Israeli aggression in 2012 and praised his “long struggle spent in the service of Egypt and its people, and primarily the Palestinian cause”.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was one of the first to react, offering his condolences to Morsi’s family and the people of Egypt.

Speaking to the reporters in Istanbul, Erdoğan said current Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sissi overthrew freely-elected Morsi, executing 50 other Egyptians and putting democracy aside.

“Unfortunately, the incident took place in the court room. I first of all I wish God’s mercy for our martyred brother Morsi,” Erdoğan said.

“The West has always been silent in the face of these executions by Sissi. EU member states forbidding execution unfortunately accepted an invitation by this murderer Sissi to attend a meeting in Egypt,” Erdoğan said, branding the EU as “hypocrites”.

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani offered his condolences to Morsi’s family and Egyptian people.

“We received with great sorrow the news of the sudden death of former president Dr Mohamed Morsi. I offer my deepest condolences to his family and Egyptian people. We belong to God and to him we shall return,” Sheikh Tamim said in a Twitter post

Spokesman of the United Nations Stephane Dujarric offered condolences to Morsi’s relatives and supporters.

Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division, called Morsi’s death “terrible but entirely predictable”, given the government’s failure to allow him adequate medical care.

“He was been deprived of adequate food and medicine. The Egyptian government had known very clearly about his declining medical state. He had lost a great deal of weight and had also fainted in court a number of times”, Whitson told Al Jazeera.

Th Muslim Brotherhood hold El Sisi and his regime responsible for Morsi’s death and called for an international investigation.

Amnesty International urged Egyptian authorities to investigate the death of Morsi. It also called for an investigation into the medical care Morsi was receiving, and for anyone found responsible for mistreatment to be held accountable.

Pakistan’s religious-political group, Jamaat-e-Islami, said the “Muslim world has lost a true hero”.

“Morsi stood tall in the face of all pressures aimed at forcing him to withdraw his struggle for fundamental rights of the people of Egypt and his support to Palestine,” the group’s chief Senator Siraj-ul- Haq said in a statement on Twitter.