Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Mohamed Morsi was ‘killed’

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his close ally Mohamed Morsi was “killed” and accused Egyptian authorities of failing to intervene to save the ex-president.

“Morsi was struggling on the floor in the courtroom for 20 minutes. Authorities unfortunately did not intervene to save him,” Mr Erdogan said during a televised speech in Istanbul. “Morsi was killed, he did not die of natural causes.”

The president said Turkey would do everything in its power to ensure Egypt faces trial in Morsi’s death.

He also called on the Islamic Cooperation Organisation to “take the necessary action” over Morsi’s death.

Egypt accused the UN human rights office of trying to politicise Morsi’s death. The former Egyptian President collapsed inside a Cairo courtroom during his trial this week.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez denounced as unacceptable comments by Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who called for a “prompt, impartial, thorough and transparent investigation” into Morsi’s death on Monday.
 

Mr Hafez saysMr Colville’s “politicised and immature” remarks match those from a country exploiting Morsi’s death for political purposes — a likely reference to Turkey.