The protests in Tahrir Square provided the military with an excuse to oust him in 2013.
His defense minister, Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, seized power on July 3, 2013, and was later elected president. Mr. el-Sisi still rules Egypt with an iron grip, and the country’s democratic hopes have been largely extinguished.
After Mr. Morsi was ousted in 2013, he was convicted of various crimes in politicized trials held under the new military-backed government. He has remained in prison since then.
The new government also outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, calling it a terrorist group. A 90-year-old Islamist movement, the Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928, and its ideas quickly spread to other Muslim-majority countries in the Arab world and beyond.
In April, President Trump pushed to designate the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization under pressure from Mr. el-Sisi, a close ally.
The Pentagon and State Department objected, saying the group does not meet the definition of a terrorist entity.
Officials at those departments also said they feared that designating the Brotherhood as a terrorist group could complicate America’s relations with a host of allied countries in the Middle East with influential Brotherhood-affiliated political parties.
Some members of Egypt’s opposition blamed Egypt’s prison conditions for Mr. Morsi’s death.
“Morsi was a victim of brutal prison conditions,” said Gamal Eid, a lawyer and human rights advocate, speaking by phone. “His family spent two years in court proceedings trying to win the right to visit him. On the other hand, Mubarak enjoyed luxurious prison conditions.”
Mr. Morsi’s son Ahmed mourned his father on Facebook, writing: “Father, we will meet again, with God.”
Source : Nytimes
