History Of Muhammad Mursi Millionwar |
History Of Muhammad Mursi
It is the Tora prison of
Cairo about which it goes that no prisoner comes alive out of it. Specially the
political prisoners were kept in this jail where they were administered slow
poison. The bathroom of the jail gives a highly nasty look. The most torturous
part of the jail is called, 'Spider.' The first elected president of Egypt
Mohamed Morsi had spent six years of his life in the same Spider section. The
jail took away his life at 66. Morsi was once brought before the court but he
collapsed just after 5 minutes. After that he never got up. I am Sadaqat Ali and in , 'who was he' I will show you the
story... of the first elected president of Egypt Mohamed Morsi, his political
struggle and the last moments of life.
Egypt is the land of
Pharaohs. Egypt never saw a democratic government in its 7000-year long
history. Over 2000 years have passed since Pharaohs rule ended yet Egyptian
political still reflects their callousness. After Emperor Shah Farouk was
thrown out of power in 1952, Egypt failed to get the democratic rule. Although
Parliamentary elections were held, but the President was always from the Army.
History Of Muhammad Mursi Millionwar |
The President was all
powerful while the Parliament was not more than a showpiece Any Army President
stayed in the office mostly till his death. The examples being Gamal Abdel
Nasser and Anwar Sadat. This situation persisted till 2011 after which a
revolution came that changed the course of history. Egyptian President Hosnie
Mubarak had been holding the office since 1980s. He appeared to hold the
Presidentship till the last. But protest demonstrations started against him in
January 2011. Millions of people came out against Mubarak and they also held a
sit-in at Tahrir Square. Army tanks were also rolled out to crush the public
movement but all in vain. Eventually Hosnie Mubarak resigned on February 11,
2011. Tahrir Square rose to celebrations as Vice President Omar Suleiman
announced Mubarak's resignation. People were dancing and singing in
jubilations. And no-one knew that a run-away prisoner was going to take place
of Hosnie Mubarak as President.
Who was this prisoner
and why he escaped the jail?
An organisation by the
name of Ikhwanul Muslimin had been established in Egypt since 1928. This
organization had been struggling peacefully for the Islamic system in Egypt. This
organization is like Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) of Pakistan. The activists of the
Ikhwanul Muslimin (IM) had actively participated in the January 2011
revolution. As a consequence, hundreds of activists of this organization were
taken into custody. The police and the army were paying attention to the
demonstrators during the revolution. Taking advantage of this situation, the
powerful criminal gangs attacked jails in Egypt to free their associates.
Muhammad Mursi
They broke into four
jails in Cairo and all prisoners ran away. Seven senior leaders of Ikhwanul
Muslimin were also among the run-away prisoners. The most eminent among these
prisoners was Mohamed Morsi al Ayyat. Morsi was the son of a farmger and he
became an engineer due to hard work. Studying with the official financial
support, he also got the degree of doctorate in Material Sciences. Now he was
called Dr. Morsi On return to Egypt he became an activist of Ikhwanul Muslimin.
The Ikhwan was banned for taking part in elections so Morsi contested the 2000
polls as independent and won. Morsi remained member of the Egyptian parliament
till 2005. Now after 2011 revolution, Morsi was going to become the most
important character of the Egyptian history. Presidential election were
announced in Egypt after Hosnie Mubarak stepped down.Despite ban, Ikhwanul
Muslimin decided to take part in the elections
For this purpose, it got
registered a new party named 'Freedom and Justice Party. Morsi also joined this
Party but the Party picked up a person for presidentship other than him. He was
Mohamed Khairat Al Shater. It was not easy to become a candidate for the
Presidential office in Egypt. The Egyptian law provided the Supreme Council of
the Armed Forces to disqualify any Presidential candidate. So the Council
disqualified Al Shater. But the Party had already named Mohamed Morsi as backup
candidate. Therefore, Mohamed Morsi became the Presidential candidate after
disqualification of Al-Shater. The Supreme Council did not object to his
nomination. So Presidential elections were held in 2012 wherein the Army
fielded its candidate against Morsi. He was Ahmed Shafik, a former commander of
the Egyptian Airforce. It was a bid to get a military man elected as President
through a democratic process. But that attempt remained unsuccessful. Mohamed
Morsi won the elections but the Army did not transfer him the power. Rather the
election results were also held back. The delay in the announcement of election
results inflammed activists of Ikhwanul Muslimin. Throusands of Akhwan activist
thronged Tahrir Square demanding immediate announcement of the results. An
impression prevailed for a week that the army would attempt a coup and
takeover. Six days after sit-in of the Ikhwanul Muslimin elections results were
announced. Morsi had secured 52 percent vote and his rival Ahmed Shafik 48
percent. Immediately after that Tahrir Square roared with the slogans of 'long
live Morsi' and 'down with the Army.' It a revolutionary change as first time a
civilian had become the president through the democratic process. The army had
accepted Morsi as President for the time being. But Morsi and the Army both
knew they did not accept superiority of each other by heart. So immediately on
coming into power, Morsi began to marginalize the army's role in the civil
rule. Army Chief is the Defence Minister also. Morsi sacked Gen. Mohamed
Hussein Tantalwi from these offices. Morsi replaced him with the
Commander-in-Chief and the Defence Minister of his choice. His name was Abdul
Fattah Alsisi, the sitting president of Egypt. The supporters of Morsi termed
replacemet of the Army Chief an attempt to foreclose the military takeover. Morsi
issued another order on November 22, 2012. This order barred the courts from
passing any decision against the presidential decrees. It also hindered the
Courts from dissolving the Constituent Assembly framing the new constitution.This
presidential orders attracted serious public reaction. The Opposition blamed
Morsi for concentrating all powers in his hand to become a dictator. So violent
demonstrations gripped the entire Egyt. Although Morsi recalled his orders next
month, yet the protest demonstrations remained unabated. The protestors also
feared more powers to the right wing of Ikhwanul Muslimin in the new constitution.
The demonstrators set the offices of Ikhwanul Muslimin on fire. December saw
intense clashes between the activists of Ikhwanul Muslimin and their opponents.
Many died and over 350 were injured in that clashes. Morsi had takenover in
June but only 6 months after efforts were stepped up to overthrow his
government. Morsi was accused not only of posing dictator but also of
misdirected economic policies. The foreign reserves of the country had
decreased 60 percent since he came to power. The GDP growth also came down by
three percent. It was taken as the worst economic crisis after the 1930s. Therefore
the demonstrations continued to pick up the momentum. In March 2013, Morsi came
to Pakistan on official visit. Here a university, Nust, also conferred an honorany
Ph.d (doctorate) degree on him.
History Of Muhammad Mursi Millionwar |
The political crisis
became deeper due to protests that also stemmed from the new Constitution. The
Morsi government had framed the new Constitution by December 2012. A referendum
was held on the enforcement of this Constitution. As much as 63 percent voted
for the Constitution and President Morsi enforced it. The Constitution based
legislation on the Shariah. Despite majority support to this Constitution,
minorities and the liberal class had serious reservations on it. The Opposition
did not accept the Constitution so it also expedited the protests. The new
Constitution, dwindling economy and blame of dictatorship on Morsi were leading
to a worse situation. In June 2013, thousands of demonstrators took over Tahrir
Square. They set ablaze images of Morsi and also headquarters of Ikhwanul
Muslimin after ransacking it The demonstrators called for immediate resignation
of Morsi. The situation once again provided opportunity to the Egyptian army to
intervene into the civilian affairs. The military helicopters began to fly over
the demonstrators at Tahrir Square. The appointee of Morsi, General Alsisi gave
48 hours to the government for accepting the demands. It was a blatant threat
that the army would takeover if Morsi did not resign. Morsi rejected the
48-hour deadline while addressing the Egyptian people on television. He
asserted himself as lawful President and vowed to lay down his life to protect
his right to rule. Within the army-set deadline, students of Cairo University
took out a rally in support of Morsi. The opponents attacked this rally which
took life of 18 people and left 300 injured. In the first week of July 2013,
the Army overthrew the Morsi government and suspended the Constitution.Morsi
was in the first place, shifted to a military base, then to the notorious Tora
Prison in Cairo. Ikhwanul Muslimin also did not keep quiet after Morsi was
deposed. Tens of thousands came out on the streets and demonstrated against the
military takeover. In that spate the demonstrators stormed a military barrack
they believed Morsi was imprisoned in. The army men and the armed persons in
civvies opened fire on the demonstrators. As many as 53 persons lost their life
by the gunshots. In that violence, a media man was also killed and the image of
the killer was captured by his camera. On July 27, army and the police raided
camps of the demonstrators. Firing and shelling took life of over 60 persons
while some others count the number up to 120. Anyway, the army crushed the demonstrators
and firmed up its grip on the power.
History Of Muhammad Mursi Millionwar |
Headed by General Abdul
Fattah Alsisi, a new government had been formed. In 2014, General Alsisi also
took the office of President for the next four years. Immediately after coming
into power, Alsisi took three steps. He declared the Ikhwan terrorist, arrested
thousands of its workers and tried them on murder charges. In a similar case as
many as 739 persons were also tried. The accused were put in sound proof cages
in the courtroom. The trial court awarded death to 75 accused persons. The
government also started trial of Morsi. He faced four major charges. One was of
breaking into 11 jails and killing over 50 policemen and prisoners, helping
escape of 20000... and attacking the police stations. The second charge was the
order Morsi made in 2012 to open fire on the protestors, torturing and
arresting them. The third was provision of secret documents of Egypt to Qatar. And
the fourth charge was contempt of the court. Morsi termed his trial illegal
when he was brought before the court in November 2013. A large number of media
men was also present in the courtroom. The media men chanted slogans for the
execution of Morsi. It is not sure they were demanding the execution under
pressure of the government or on their conscience's call. Morsi was always kept
in a sound proof cage in the courtroom. Morsi was held guilty on all charges
and convicted. He was sentenced to death for breaking the jails. But later a
court ordered for his retrial after suspending the death conviction. He was
awarded 25-year jail for espionage, 20-year for ordering tortures, and 3-year
for contempt of the court. He was additionally fined $56000 for contempt of the
court. The Amnesty International and other civil rights bodies had termed Morsi's
trial fake and a drama. But these cases were kept intact. Morsi did not see the
sun as a free man after he was deposed from power. From the year 2013 to 2019
he was kept behind the bars. He was kept in solitary confinement. Only three
times he was allowed to see his family in six years' of jail. Security persons
also showed their presence in every meeting. It was extreme that the security
men took notes of every matter talked in those meetings. Morsi was not provided
any bed and he slept on the floor. He did not have the facility of books,
newspaper, pen, and the notebook.He complained to the court a number of times
about the absence of medical facilities to him in jail. But no-one took notice
of his grievances. In 2018, a group of British politicians and lawyers probed
the jail period of Morsi. They found Morsi's confinement falling in the
category of 'torture' under the law. The groups apprehended death of Morsi due
to poor facilities to him in confinement. The apprehensions of the group proved
true. Morsi was brought to the court that was trying him for espionage and
secret contacts with Hamas leaders. Morsi spoke before the Court for five
minutes and collapsed all of a sudden. He was taken to the hospital where
doctors pronounced him dead. Morsi had also been suffering from heart, lever
and diabetes problems. He was died of heart attack. The human rights
organizations held Alsisi responsible for the death of Morsi. Including the
UNO, and AI other world bodies demanded independent and impartial investigations
into his death. The strongest reaction came from the Turkish President Tayyip
Erdogan. He described Morsi's death as murder. A funeral prayer (in the absence
of body) for Morsi was also held in Istanbul. Including Tayyip Erdogan
thousands of Turkish citizens attended the prayer. The Ikhwanun Muslimin
declared Morsi's death a blatant act of murder. On its website, the
organization highlighted its stand that Morsi was murdered in cold blood. The
demand to investigate into Morsi's death was on the rife while the Eyptian
government and the media... were trying to hush it up as a normal happening. The
Egyptian government turned down as 'irresponsible' the Turkish claim that Morsi
was murdered.The Egyptian TV anchors projected that Morsi was provided every
facility in jail. One anchor claimed that Morsi was provided food of his choice
in confinement. That Morsi had taste for duck meat that was also provide to him
in jail. One anchor even ruthlessly said, so what if Morsi was dead. Let him
remain dead.
What in your view who
was responsible for the death of Morsi? Whether his death should be probed?
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