CAIRO: Former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi died on Monday from a heart attack. He collapsed in a Cairo court while on trial on espionage charges and died. Morsi, 67, was the first democratically elected head of state in Egypt’s modern history.

He was elected in 2012 but was ousted by the military in 2013 after one year in office. That military coup was led by the country’s then-military leader, Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, who is now president. He had already been sentenced to more than 45 years in prison in three separate trials. For the past six years, he has remained largely in solitary confinement. Morsi had rejected the authority of the courts and his supporters denounced the trials as politically motivated.

Morsi was top figure in the now-banned Islamist movement Muslim Brotherhood. His family said authorities had repeatedly denied access to him and that they knew nothing about his health status. According to Amnesty International, Morsi was allowed only three visits from relatives and was denied access to his lawyers or a doctor, according to human rights group.

A Muslim Brotherhood spokesman described Morsi’s death as “a full-fledged crime of murder”. On the group’s website, they posted with the hashtag ­#TheyKilledHim. (Agencies)