World leaders condole former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi's death

CAIRO: Condolences poured in from across the world after the death of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi on Monday.

Morsi breathed his last after fainting in a courtroom during a trial session, state media reported.

The 67-year-old was undergoing trial over accusations of espionage. People around the world issued statements on his sudden death.

The first one to react was Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, who called Morsi a "martyr"

"May Allah rest our Morsi brother, our martyr's soul in peace," said Erdogan, who is known for having good relations with the former president.

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.

United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric offered condolences to Morsi's relatives and supporters.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch's the Middle East and North Africa division has called Morsi's death terrible but entirely predictable and held the government responsible for his death

Mohammed Sudan, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in London, described Morsi's death as "premeditated murder", saying that the former president was banned from receiving medicine or visits and there was little information about his health condition.

"He has been placed behind [a] glass cage [during trials]. No one can hear him or know what is happening to him. He hasn't received any visits for months or nearly a year. He complained before that he doesn't get his medicine. This is premeditated murder. This is a slow death."

Morsi became Egypt's first democratically elected president in 2012 after the 2011 Arab Spring saw the end of former President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule.

He was then deposed following mass protests and a military coup in July 2013.

The ousted leader had remained in custody since then, while the movement to which he belonged, the Muslim Brotherhood, has since been outlawed, Al Jazeera reported.

The Cairo Criminal Court had adjourned the trial of Morsi and 23 others in the case of "collaborating with Hamas" for tomorrow.

In November 2016, the Court of Cassation scrapped the life imprisonment sentence for Morsi and 21 other defendants, including some who had received the death penalty, in the same case, and ordered a retrial.