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Watchdog calls for probe into demise of Egypt's ex-president Morsi

A human rights group on Monday called for an independent and international investigation by the UN into the death of Egypt's first and only democratically-elected leader. Human Rights Watch said the United Nations Human Rights Council should establish a probe into a wide range of human rights violations in Egypt, including the death of Mohamed Morsi.

Published June 18,2019
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Human Rights Watch is calling on the U.N. human rights council to investigate the death of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi, who collapsed and died inside a Cairo courtroom the previous day.

The New York-based group also says that Egyptian authorities should be investigated for "their mistreatment" of Morsi, who collapsed during a court session and died on Monday "after years of insufficient access to medical care."

Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at HRW, says the authorities' treatment of Morsi in prison was "horrific, and those responsible should be investigated and appropriately prosecuted."

She says that "at the very least, the Egyptian government committed grave abuses against Morsi by denying him prisoners' rights that met minimum standards."

She added that Morsi death "followed years of government mistreatment, prolonged solitary confinement, inadequate medical care, and deprivation of family visits and access to lawyers."