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Muslim Views . July 2019
Sisi’s regime must take responsibility for Morsi’s ‘murder’ MOAMEN ABBASY
ON Monday, June 17, 2019, the world paused. It froze at the death of one its most prominent freedom fighters – a man that has graced the world with his existence. A loving father, a kind brother and a great leader, Dr Mohamed Morsi Isa al-Ayyat was the first and only democratically elected Egyptian civilian president. Dr Mohamed Morsi met his lord striving persistently on the path of justice. Dr Morsi was born in a small village, al-Adwah, in Sharqia province. He later moved to Cairo in the 1960s to study at Cairo University where he earned his first degree in engineering. He then spent a few years in the US where he completed his PhD at the University of Southern California. Working for NASA, Morsi was part of the team that developed space shuttle engines. However, Morsi yearned for his country, returned to Egypt and pursued a teaching career as a professor at Zagazig University, in Egypt. Subsequently, he became the head of the engineering department. Morsi entered politics when he was elected for the first time to the Egyptian parliament in 2000 and served there for five years as an independent. On January 28, 2011, Morsi and 24 Muslim Brotherhood leaders were detained during the uprising against the dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak. However, it is al-
Dr Mohamed Morsi Isa al-Ayyat, the first and only democratically elected Egyptian civilian president, passed away on June 17, 2019, during a break in court proceedings. Photo SUPPLIED
leged that the Mubarak regime released countless non-political prisoners in order to cause chaos among anti-government protestors. In the confusion of the mass releases, Morsi and his supporters were also released. Four years later, he was charged with escaping from custody! Upon his release, he joined the Egyptian revolution and with an increasing number of supporters for the Muslim Brotherhood party, the revolution grew more robust. After the deaths of hundreds and injuries to thousands, Mubarak was overthrown. For the first time in its history, the Brotherhood founded a political party in order to preserve the hard-won democracy. With Morsi as its head, the Freedom and Justice party won
the election and he became the first democratically elected president of Egypt on June 24, 2012. Holding state criminals to account for their actions, Morsi was opposed on many fronts from within. These state criminals – leaders of the ousted Mubarak regime – had gained a fortune from usurping the country. Their lives and the fortunes they illegally gained were at risk and so the plan to again destroy the country began. Morsi, at this point, had established countless projects with his newly elected government, which included expanding the Suez Canal to increase foreign and local investments. His objective was to place Egypt on a strong economic platform. His government also forged alliances with countries from both the developing and developed world. Some Arab countries, on the other hand, were not too pleased with Morsi’s government. Egypt’s move towards strengthening its economy was seen as a threat to oil-rich countries. They also feared that a successful democratic Egypt would be a motivation for the masses in their countries that an oppressor can be overthrown. On the international front, Morsi’s fiercest opponent was Israel. He supported the struggle for a free Palestine and condemned the colonial Zionist ideology. It was under his rule that the Rafah border between Egypt and Gaza was opened for the first time since 2006.
Unfortunately, Egypt was unable to protect its new-found democracy due to the existence of the ‘deep state’, a panel directed by the military, who refused to accept the new democratic reality and eventually intervened to demolish this democracy. Morsi’s opponents and the ‘deep state’ could not find any legal approach to delegitimise his government. And so, funded by Arab Gulf countries, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi led a military coup, toppling the legitimate government of president Mohamed Morsi on July 3, 2013. They did not stop there. The president was arrested along with thousands of his party members and government officials. The Egyptian populace took to the streets voicing its opposition to the coup, with the military using force to suppress popular sentiment. This led to the largest civilian massacre in Egyptian history. Supporters of Morsi had gathered at Rabia al-Adawiya Square in eastern Cairo, at first to celebrate the first anniversary of his presidency but later to protest his ouster. After a six-week peaceful sit-in, the military raided the Square on August 14, 2013, with brute force resulting in what Human Rights Watch described as ‘one of the world’s largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history’. As the military came in with live ammunition and bulldozers to clear the square, close to a thousand people were killed and a
thousand more suffered injuries. Even those who sought refuge in the Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque were not spared. Parts of the mosque were burnt as soldiers torched sections of the square. Meanwhile, President Morsi was arrested and put into solitary confinement, at times spending 23 hours a day in his cell. Independent observers noted the atrocious conditions of his incarceration. Although a diabetic, he was denied medical attention and insiders say that his captors would offer him a choice between his insulin or food but never both. His bed was the cold, hard ground and his pillow was his bruised arm. Throughout the six years of his detention, he was granted only four visits by members of his family. Dr Morsi appeared in court on Monday, June 17, 2019. Officials say he had asked to address the jury, and spoke for about five minutes from a soundproof glass cage where he was being held with other defendants. Minutes later, he apparently fainted during a break in proceedings. He was transferred to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. Officials said that a forensic report had been ordered into his death, and insisted no new, visible injuries were found on his body. It is clear, however, that his prison conditions and denial of medical care that led to his death amounted to murder on the part of the Sisi regime.
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