Former Egyptian President Mursi Collapses and Dies in Court

(Bloomberg) -- Mohamed Mursi, an Islamist who served as Egypt’s first democratically-elected civilian president before being ousted a year into his first term, has died, state television reported on Monday.

The 67-year-old, who was fielded for office by the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, fainted while attending a court hearing and later passed away, state media reported.

A U.S.-trained rocket scientist, Mursi was narrowly elected in 2012, roughly a year after his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, was toppled in a mass uprising. Mursi was pushed from power in 2013 by his defense minister, Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, who went on to become president.

Sisi launched a sweeping crackdown against the Brotherhood and other Islamists that left hundreds dead and thousands more imprisoned. The push, later expanded to include activists and other critics, has been criticized as effectively silencing dissent in the Arab world’s most populous nation and crushing the spirit of hope that erupted with the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011.

While the crackdown has driven the Brotherhood underground, analysts say his death could again ignite tensions. For the Brotherhood, “he is still the legitimate president,” said Gamal Eid, head of the Cairo-based Arab Network for Human Rights.

Since his ouster, Mursi has languished in prison facing a slew of charges ranging from providing state secrets to a foreign power, to escaping from jail during the 2011 uprising against Mubarak. The hearing during which he collapsed and later died was in connection to the espionage case.

His case, and others like it, became routine in Egypt after his ouster with mass trials condemning hundreds to death.

Mursi’s health had reportedly deteriorated in prison, where he faced conditions harsher than those of his predecessor, Mubarak, who spent much of his incarceration in a military hospital.

"The circumstances of his prison were very bad, just like the rest of the opposition,, whether Islamists or secularists,” said Eid. “His family were denied visitation and had filed a case just to be able to visit him in prison.”

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