Egypt’s jailed president voices rejection of 2013 coup

By Hussein Elkabani

CAIRO (AA) - Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, has reaffirmed his rejection of the 2013 military coup that resulted in his ouster and imprisonment after only one year in office.

The Egyptian authorities late Sunday allowed Morsi’s wife, Naglaa Ali Mahmoud, his daughter, Shaimaa, and lawyer Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud to visit him for roughly one hour in southern Cairo’s Tora Prison.

His family later reported that the former president was in good health, according to a statement given to Anadolu Agency by his son, Abdullah, and Abdel-Maqsoud.

“The president’s [i.e., Morsi’s] position [on the 2013 coup] remains consistent; it has not changed,” the statement read.

“He continues to reject all steps [taken by the regime of President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi] since [the coup on] July 3, 2013,” it added.

Late last month, Morsi’s family said in a statement that the former president was now serving his fifth Ramadan in prison without being allowed to receive any visits.

Morsi has been barred from receiving prison visits since November 2013, when he managed to deliver a message to the Egyptian public in which he reiterated his constitutional legitimacy as president and rejected a raft of criminal charges brought against him by al-Sisi’s post-coup regime.