Egyptian authorities on Wednesday blasted the UN human right’s office saying it was trying to politicize the death of former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi who died this week after collapsing in court.
Morsi, a senior member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, died of what medics believe was a heart attack on Monday after addressing a court hearing his retrial for espionage. He was buried in a cemetery in Cairo early the next morning alongside other prominent Brotherhood figures in the presence of his family and a lawyer.
Morsi’s grave sits near to that of the Brotherhood’s late spiritual leader Mahdi Akef who died in prison in 2017.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez said that comments by Rupert Colville, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, were unacceptable and attempted “deliberately to politicize the natural death” of Morsi.
Colville called for a “prompt, impartial, thorough and transparent investigation” into Morsi’s death.
Mr Hafez said Mr Colville’s “politicized and immature” remarks match those from a people exploiting Morsi’s death for political purposes. In the wake of Morsi’s passing, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan – a longtime supporter of the Brotherhood and of Morsi – has claimed that “Morsi did not [die] naturally, he was killed,” although he has given no evidence to support his claim.
Mr Erdogan is a fierce critic to the government of President Abdel Fattah El Sissi.
Morsi was elected president in 2012 in the country’s first elections following the Arab uprising that brought down Hosni Mubarak after 30 years in power.
However, after a year of ineffectual governance and amid growing anger at his divisive rule, the army stepped in to remove Morsi from office.
Morsi then stood trial on numerous charges, many of which he was found guilty for committing.