*ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday vowed to try toensure the Egyptian government is tried in international courts for thedeath of former president Mohamed Morsi, who suffered a fatal heart attackin a Cairo court earlier this week.*
“Muhammed Morsi flailed on the courtroom floor for 20 minutes and theauthorities did not help him. This is why I say Mursi did not die, he wasmurdered,” Erdogan told supporters at an election rally in Istanbul.
“We, as Turkey, will follow this issue and do everything possible for Egyptto be tried in international courts for Morsi’s death,” he said, calling onthe Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to take action towards this end.
He spoke a day after he called Morsi a “marytr” and said he did not believethe former president died due to natural causes.
Morsi, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood group which is now bannedin Egypt, died on Monday after collapsing in a Cairo court while on trialon espionage charges.
The 67-year-old – the first democratically elected head of state in Egypt’smodern history – had been in jail since the army commanded by Egypt’scurrent president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi toppled him in 2013 after barely ayear in power following mass protests against his rule.
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Erdogan’s AK Party supported Morsi’s short-lived Egyptian government, andmany Brotherhood members and supporters have fled to Turkey since itsactivities were banned in Egypt.
Erdogan added he would raise the issue at the G20 summit in Japan at theend of the month.
Rights groups have called for an investigation into Morsi’s death andraised questions about his treatment in prison. Egypt’s government hasdismissed accusations that he was badly treated. -APP/AFP
