Egypt condemns Erdogan's 'irresponsible' claim stating Morsi was killed

Egypt on Thursday strongly condemned the "irresponsible" claim made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that his ousted Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Morsi had been killed.

The Turkish President on Wednesday had blamed the Egyptian authorities for not taking any measure to save the former head of state, while he struggled "on the floor of the courtroom for 20 minutes," during a trial session, reported Sputnik.

"Morsi was struggling on the floor in the courtroom for 20 minutes. Authorities, unfortunately, did not intervene to save him," Erdogan said. "Morsi was killed, he did not die of natural causes."

Erdogan is not the first to question the manner in which the former Egyptian President died. On Tuesday, the United Nations (UN) had called for a "thorough and transparent investigation" to clarify the "cause of [Morsi's] death," reported Al Jazeera.

"Any sudden death in custody must be followed by a prompt, impartial, thorough and transparent investigation carried out by an independent body to clarify the cause of death," Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said.

The statement had drawn criticism from Egypt, which accused the UN of seeking to "politicise" 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.

( With inputs from ANI )