SRINAGAR: Kashmir University on Tuesday offered in absentia prayers for the first Egyptian democratically elected president Dr. Muhammad Morsi.
According to reports, hundreds of faculty members, scholars and students assembled outside the center masjid of KU after nimaz e Zuhr and offered funeral in absentia for the Dr. Muhammad Morsi.
A top figure in the Muslim Brotherhood and the first democratically elected president in Egypt’s modern history, Morsi had been in jail since he was toppled by the military in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.
People around the world on Monday issued statements on the sudden death of Morsi.
Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani offered his condolences to Morsi’s family and Egyptian people.
“We received with great sorrow the news of the sudden death of former president Dr Mohamed Morsi. I offer my deepest condolences to his family and Egyptian people. We belong to God and to him we shall return,” Sheikh Tamim said in a Twitter post
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, on Monday blamed Egypt’s “tyrants” for the death of Morsi.
“History will never forget those tyrants who led to his death by putting him in jail and threatening him with execution,” Erdogan, a close ally of Morsi, said in a televised speech in Istanbul.
The Turkish leader called the former Egyptian president a “martyr”.
“May Allah rest our Morsi brother, our martyr’s soul in peace,” said Erdogan, who had forged close ties with the former president.
United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric offered condolences to Morsi’s relatives and supporters.
The Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice political party said in a statement that Egyptian authorities is responsible for Morsi’s “deliberate slow death”.
“[The Egyptian authorities] put him in solitary confinement… they witheld medication and gave him disgusting food… they did not give him the most basic human rights,” the political party said in a statement published on its website.
The Brotherhood also called for crowds to gather outside Egyptian embassies around the world.
In a joint statement, Amr Darrag, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood and a minister of planning and international cooperation under Morsi, and Yehia Hamed, a former Egyptian investment minister under Morsi, said an international independent investigation into the death of Morsi should be made public.
“The Egyptian regime knew that the continued denial of access to medical treatment would lead to his premature death. To that effect, the death of President Morsi is tantamount to state sponsored murder,” they said in the statement.
“The first democratically elected President has died through a concerted and active campaign by the Egyptian regime. This is a gross violation of international law. It must not be allowed to stand.”
Last year, a report by three British members of parliament, under the Independent Detention Review Panel, warned that the lack of medical treatment could result in Morsi’s “premature death”.
In a statement released after Morsi’s death, Crispin Blunt, the panel’s chairman, said his death in custody was representative of Egypt’s inability to treat prisoners in accordance with both Egyptian and international law.
“The Egyptian government has a duty to explain his unfortunate death and there must be proper accountability for his treatment in custody. We found culpability for torture rests not only with direct perpetrators but those who are responsible for or acquiesce in it,” he said in a statement.
“The only step now is a reputable independent international investigation.”
Amnesty International urged Egyptian authorities to investigate the death of Morsi.
“We call on Egyptian authorities to conduct an impartial, thorough and transparent investigation into the circumstances of Mursi’s death, including his solitary confinement and isolation from the outside world,” the London-based rights group said in a twitter post.
It also called for an investigation into the medical care Morsi was receiving, and for anyone found responsible for mistreatment to be held accountable.
Hamas issued a statement paying tribute to Morsi, who had been a close ally of the Palestinian movement administering the besieged Gaza Strip.
It praised Morsi’s “long struggle spent in the service of Egypt and its people, and primarily the Palestinian cause”.
Pakistan’s religious-political group, Jamaat-e-Islami, said the “Muslim world has lost a true hero”.
“Morsi stood tall in the face of all pressures aimed at forcing him to withdraw his struggle for fundamental rights of the people of Egypt and his support to Palestine,” the group’s chief Senator Siraj-ul- Haq said in a statement on Twitter.
He announced that the party on Tuesday would hold funeral prayers in absentia for Morsi across Pakistan.
Malaysia’s foreign ministry said it was “shocked and saddened by the sudden death” of Morsi.
“During his tenure as president, Mr Morsi showed courage and moral fortitude in his attempt to lead Egypt away from decades of authoritarian rule and establish true democracy there,” Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said in a statement.
“I would like to extend my deepest condolences to the bereaved family of Mr Morsi and the people of Egypt.”
Morsi, who was 67, had been in custody since his removal from office in 2013.
Human rights groups, who had criticised the conditions in which he was kept, have called for an impartial investigation into his death, reported BBC.
His family and activists had repeatedly raised concerns about his health and the amount of time he was kept in solitary confinement, away from visits by lawyers and family. (PTK)
