HRW calls on Egypt to respect Morsi's rights

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Egyptian authorities to respect the rights of the former president, Mohamed Morsi, who has been held in a prison following his ouster in July 2013.

According to a statement by the rights organisation, the Egyptian authorities have “unlawfully” prevented Morsi, the first democratically-elected president in Egypt, from contacting or receiving visits from his family and lawyers throughout the years he spent in prison since the military has “forcibly” removed him from power in July 2013. Early June 2017, Morsi was allowed to receive visits from his family and lawyer for only the second time in nearly four years.

The statement pointed out that the “tough” imprisonment conditions have undermined Morsi’s right “to mount a legal challenge against his detention and to appeal many of prosecutions that have been filed against him.” It may have also contributed to a decline in his health, the HRW statement stressed.

Morsi was reported to have fainted twice and has experienced a diabetic coma, according to his family.

HRW’s deputy director for Middle East and North Africa,  Joe Stork, said that the “Egyptian authorities appear to have seriously violated former President Morsi’s due process rights and may be interfering in his proper medical treatment.”

“Morsy’s treatment is a window into the appalling conditions suffered by thousands of political detainees in Egypt,” Stork added.

Read: Morsi may die in an Egyptian prison. It’s time the British government spoke up

The rights official stressed that “Egypt should stop this cruel retaliation against Morsi and his family,”

“As with all detainees, Morsi’s rights should be fully respected and guaranteed,” he demanded.

Egyptian authorities did not respond to HRW’s accusations. The government claims to provide “proper” medical care to all detainees, while strongly denying the allegations that they hold “political detainees.”

On June 12, during a court hearing, Morsi told the presiding judge that he would like to meet with his defence team to brief them on the “crimes” he has been exposed to in prison and how it have had a “direct effect” on his life, as he fainted on 5 and 6 June.

At the time, the court reviewed an official medical report made by the prison doctors, which stated that Morsi’s health is good but that he suffers from diabetes.

On June 8, Morsi’s defence team filed a complaint to the prosecutor general saying that his life could be in danger and asking to transfer him to a private health facility for examination.

Since his ouster, Morsi has faced five separate trials on charges that include conspiring with Hamas and Hezbollah, committing espionage by leaking state secrets to Qatar, insulting the judiciary, and orchestrating the deadly dispersal of opposition protesters outside his presidential palace in 2012.

Read: Morsi has fainted twice in prison

Osama Morsi, son of the ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi