Egypt's Morsi 'abstaining from prison food'

Egypt's former President Mohamed Morsi, who is in prison since he was ousted from power in 2013, has said that he had stopped eating out of fear over his life.

During the resumption of his trial on Saturday on charges of espionage and leaking classified documents, the deposed president said the food that was given to him on July 21 and 22 was going to lead to "a major crime".

Egypt's first democratically elected president called on the court to give him access to doctors, saying he was suffering from worrying low blood sugar levels.

He also wanted to meet his defence team to discuss what he said were five incidents in prison that he considered to be life threatening.

Osama Morsi, former president's son, implied that his father suspects the food may have been tampered with and that he is "now suffering from a significant shift in treatment in prison".

The Cairo's Criminal Court on Saturday was resuming hearing evidence in the so-called Qatar espionage trial of Morsi along with 10 others.

The defendants are facing charges of leaking military and state secrets to Doha and "harming the security" of the county.

Morsi was elected president in June 2012 more than a year after longtime leader Hosni Mubarak was ousted after a popular uprising. The Muslim Brotherhood leader was deposed in July 2013 in military coup, following mass protests against him.

Since then, the Muslim Brotherhood was outlawed and its members faced a massive crackdown.

Morsi was sentenced to death on charges of murder and attempted murder during a prison break, and the Brotherhood was declared a terrorist group.

He has been appearing in court wearing the red prison uniform reserved for prisoners on death row.
Source: Al Jazeera
8/8/15