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Egypt: Morsi’s son to be released on bail

October 12, 2018 at 3:48 pm

Abdullah Morsi, the son of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi is seen during the trial over the breaking up the Rabaa Al-Adawiyyah protests, at the police academy in Cairo, Egypt on 10 December 2016 [Moustafa Elshemy / Anadolu Agency]

The son of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi will be released on bail after he was arrested on Wednesday on charges of “membership in an outlawed group and dissemination of untruthful news”, according to a judicial source.

The Prosecutor-General ordered the release of Abdullah Morsi on bail of 5,000 Egyptian pounds ($278) while he remains under investigated.

Abdullah is the youngest of Morsi’s five children. His older brother, Osama, was arrested in late 2016 on a charge of “inciting violence” and has been in detention since.

Morsi’s eldest son and the family’s spokesperson, Ahmed, wrote on Facebook on Wednesday morning that his brother Abdullah was arrested at their home.

Read: Morsi’s espionage trial adjourned to November

Earlier this month, Abdullah spoke to the Associated Press about the conditions under which his father is being held and the family’s efforts to gain access to him.

He added that Morsi is being held in solitary confinement, without adequate medical care for diabetes and high blood pressure from which he suffers and he sleeps on the floor.

The former president is not aware of what is going on in the world outside prison as authorities do not allow him to read newspapers or even write his thoughts down on paper, his son said.

Since the Egyptian army ousted Morsi in a bloody coup in 2013, thousands of his supporters and sympathisers have been arrested and prosecuted. Hundreds were sentenced to death in cases which human rights groups have said are “politically motivated”.

Read: Details of Morsi family visit in prison last month