Middle East Eye: Egyptian officials threatened former President Mohamed Morsi days before his death
June 28, 2019
The British website Middle East Eye has claimed that senior Egyptian officials gave former President Mohamed Morsi and Brotherhood leaders in jail a deadline to dissolve the group or face the consequences of their refusal, but Morsi refused to do so and then died in court within days.
The website said that Egyptian officials asked Brotherhood leaders to dissolve the organisation. They outlined this demand in a strategic document written by senior officials close to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The website refrained from publishing details of the document, fearing it would endanger prisoners’ lives.
Under the title “Closing the file of the Muslim Brotherhood,” the document said that the 2013 coup was an unprecedented blow to the Muslim Brotherhood, much more severe that what it faced under the Presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser and Hosni Mubarak.
According to the document, the Muslim Brotherhood has been weakened and is no longer subject to a clear chain of command.
It added that the Brotherhood can no longer be considered a threat to the state, and that the main problem now is the number of political prisoners. Some estimates are as high as 60,000 members of various opposition factions.
The document proposed dissolving the Muslim Brotherhood within three years, and that members of the organisation who pledge to avoid political and advocacy work would enjoy freedom. Those who reject this offer would be threatened with harsh punitive measures and life imprisonment.
According to Middle East Eye, Morsi himself, who was held in solitary confinement, was put under enormous pressure, kept away from lawyers, family or from having any contact with fellow prisoners.
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