It is the Tora prison of Cairo about which it goes that no prisoner comes alive out of it.
Specially the political prisoners were kept in this jail where they were administered slow poison.
The bathroom of the jail gives a highly nasty look. The most torturous part of the jail is called, 'Spider.'
The first elected president of Egypt Mohamed Morsi had spent six years of his life in the same Spider section.
The jail took away his life at 66. Morsi was once brought before the court but he collapsed just after 5 minutes.
After that he never got up.
I am Muhammad Osama Ghazi and in Dekho, Suno, Jano's series, 'Wo Kon Tha' I will show you the story...
of the first elected president of Egypt Mohamed Morsi, his political struggle and the last moments of life.
Egypt is the land of Pharaohs.
Egypt never saw a democratic government in its 7000-year long history.
Over 2000 years have passed since Pharaohs rule ended yet Egyptian political still reflects their callousness.
After Emperor Shah Farouk was thrown out of power in 1952, Egypt failed to get the democratic rule.
Although Parliamentary elections were held, but the President was always from the Army.
The President was all powerful while the Parliament was not more than a showpiece
Any Army President stayed in the office mostly till his death.
The examples being Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat.
This situation persisted till 2011 after which a revolution came that changed the course of history.
Egyptian President Hosnie Mubarak had been holding the office since 1980s.
He appeared to hold the Presidentship till the last.
But protest demonstrations started against him in January 2011.
Millions of people came out against Mubarak and they also held a sit-in at Tahrir Square.
Army tanks were also rolled out to crush the public movement but all in vain.
Eventually Hosnie Mubarak resigned on February 11, 2011.
Tahrir Square rose to celebrations as Vice President Omar Suleiman announced Mubarak's resignation.
People were dancing and singing in jubilations.
And no-one knew that a run-away prisoner was going to take place of Hosnie Mubarak as President.
Who was this prisoner and why he escaped the jail?
An organisation by the name of Ikhwanul Muslimin had been established in Egypt since 1928.
This organization had been struggling peacefully for the Islamic system in Egypt.
This organization is like Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) of Pakistan.
The activists of the Ikhwanul Muslimin (IM) had actively participated in the January 2011 revolution.
As a consequence, hundreds of activists of this organization were taken into custody.
The police and the army were paying attention to the demonstrators during the revolution.
Taking advantage of this situation, the powerful criminal gangs attacked jails in Egypt to free their associates.
They broke into four jails in Cairo and all prisoners ran away.
Seven senior leaders of Ikhwanul Muslimin were also among the run-away prisoners.
The most eminent among these prisoners was Mohamed Morsi al Ayyat.
Morsi was the son of a farmger and he became an engineer due to hard work.
Studying with the official financial support, he also got the degree of doctorate in Material Sciences.
Now he was called Dr. Morsi
On return to Egypt he became an activist of Ikhwanul Muslimin.
The Ikhwan was banned for taking part in elections so Morsi contested the 2000 polls as independent and won.
Morsi remained member of the Egyptian parliament till 2005.
Now after 2011 revolution, Morsi was going to become the most important character of the Egyptian history.
Presidential election were announced in Egypt after Hosnie Mubarak stepped down.
Despite ban, Ikhwanul Muslimin decided to take part in the elections
For this purpose, it got registered a new party named 'Freedom and Justice Party.
Morsi also joined this Party but the Party picked up a person for presidentship other than him.
He was Mohamed Khairat Al Shater.
It was not easy to become a candidate for the Presidential office in Egypt.
The Egyptian law provided the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to disqualify any Presidential candidate.
So the Council disqualified Al Shater.
But the Party had already named Mohamed Morsi as backup candidate.
Therefore, Mohamed Morsi became the Presidential candidate after disqualification of Al-Shater.
The Supreme Council did not object to his nomination.
So Presidential elections were held in 2012 wherein the Army fielded its candidate against Morsi.
He was Ahmed Shafik, a former commander of the Egyptian Airforce.
It was a bid to get a military man elected as President through a democratic process.
But that attempt remained unsuccessful.
Mohamed Morsi won the elections but the Army did not transfer him the power.
Rather the election results were also held back.
The delay in the announcement of election results inflammed activists of Ikhwanul Muslimin.
Throusands of Akhwan activist thronged Tahrir Square demanding immediate announcement of the results.
An impression prevailed for a week that the army would attempt a coup and takeover.
Six days after sit-in of the Ikhwanul Muslimin elections results were announced.
Morsi had secured 52 percent vote and his rival Ahmed Shafik 48 percent.
Immediately after that Tahrir Square roared with the slogans of 'long live Morsi' and 'down with the Army.'
It a revolutionary change as first time a civilian had become the president through the democratic process.
The army had accepted Morsi as President for the time being.
But Morsi and the Army both knew they did not accept superiority of each other by heart.
So immediately on coming into power, Morsi began to marginalize the army's role in the civil rule.
Army Chief is the Defence Minister also. Morsi sacked Gen. Mohamed Hussein Tantalwi from these offices.
Morsi replaced him with the Commander-in-Chief and the Defence Minister of his choice.
His name was Abdul Fattah Alsisi, the sitting president of Egypt.
The supporters of Morsi termed replacemet of the Army Chief an attempt to foreclose the military takeover.
Morsi issued another order on November 22, 2012.
This order barred the courts from passing any decision against the presidential decrees.
It also hindered the Courts from dissolving the Constituent Assembly framing the new constitution.
This presidential orders attracted serious public reaction.
The Opposition blamed Morsi for concentrating all powers in his hand to become a dictator.
So violent demonstrations gripped the entire Egyt.
Although Morsi recalled his orders next month, yet the protest demonstrations remained unabated.
The protestors also feared more powers to the right wing of Ikhwanul Muslimin in the new constitution.
The demonstrators set the offices of Ikhwanul Muslimin on fire.
December saw intense clashes between the activists of Ikhwanul Muslimin and their opponents.
Many died and over 350 were injured in that clashes.
Morsi had takenover in June but only 6 months after efforts were stepped up to overthrow his government.
Morsi was accused not only of posing dictator but also of misdirected economic policies.
The foreign reserves of the country had decreased 60 percent since he came to power.
The GDP growth also came down by three percent.
It was taken as the worst economic crisis after the 1930s.
Therefore the demonstrations continued to pick up the momentum.
In March 2013, Morsi came to Pakistan on official visit.
Here a university, Nust, also conferred an honorany Ph.d (doctorate) degree on him.
The political crisis became deeper due to protests that also stemmed from the new Constitution.
The Morsi government had framed the new Constitution by December 2012.
A referendum was held on the enforcement of this Constitution.
As much as 63 percent voted for the Constitution and President Morsi enforced it.
The Constitution based legislation on the Shariah.
Despite majority support to this Constitution, minorities and the liberal class had serious reservations on it.
The Opposition did not accept the Constitution so it also expedited the protests.
The new Constitution, dwindling economy and blame of dictatorship on Morsi were leading to a worse situation.
In June 2013, thousands of demonstrators took over Tahrir Square.
They set ablaze images of Morsi and also headquarters of Ikhwanul Muslimin after ransacking it
The demonstrators called for immediate resignation of Morsi.
The situation once again provided opportunity to the Egyptian army to intervene into the civilian affairs.
The military helicopters began to fly over the demonstrators at Tahrir Square.
The appointee of Morsi, General Alsisi gave 48 hours to the government for accepting the demands.
It was a blatant threat that the army would takeover if Morsi did not resign.
Morsi rejected the 48-hour deadline while addressing the Egyptian people on television.
He asserted himself as lawful President and vowed to lay down his life to protect his right to rule.
Within the army-set deadline, students of Cairo University took out a rally in support of Morsi.
The opponents attacked this rally which took life of 18 people and left 300 injured.
In the first week of July 2013, the Army overthrew the Morsi government and suspended the Constitution.
Morsi was in the first place, shifted to a military base, then to the notorious Tora Prison in Cairo.
Ikhwanul Muslimin also did not keep quiet after Morsi was deposed.
Tens of thousands came out on the streets and demonstrated against the military takeover.
In that spate the demonstrators stormed a military barrack they believed Morsi was imprisoned in.
The army men and the armed persons in civvies opened fire on the demonstrators.
As many as 53 persons lost their life by the gunshots.
In that violence, a media man was also killed and the image of the killer was captured by his camera.
On July 27, army and the police raided camps of the demonstrators.
Firing and shelling took life of over 60 persons while some others count the number up to 120.
Anyway, the army crushed the demonstrators and firmed up its grip on the power.
Headed by General Abdul Fattah Alsisi, a new government had been formed.
In 2014, General Alsisi also took the office of President for the next four years.
Immediately after coming into power, Alsisi took three steps.
He declared the Ikhwan terrorist, arrested thousands of its workers and tried them on murder charges.
In a similar case as many as 739 persons were also tried.
The accused were put in sound proof cages in the courtroom.
The trial court awarded death to 75 accused persons.
The government also started trial of Morsi.
He faced four major charges.
One was of breaking into 11 jails and killing over 50 policemen and prisoners, helping escape of 20000...
and attacking the police stations.
The second charge was the order Morsi made in 2012 to open fire on the protestors, torturing and arresting them.
The third was provision of secret documents of Egypt to Qatar.
And the fourth charge was contempt of the court.
Morsi termed his trial illegal when he was brought before the court in November 2013.
A large number of media men was also present in the courtroom.
The media men chanted slogans for the execution of Morsi.
It is not sure they were demanding the execution under pressure of the government or on their conscience's call.
Morsi was always kept in a sound proof cage in the courtroom.
Morsi was held guilty on all charges and convicted.
He was sentenced to death for breaking the jails.
But later a court ordered for his retrial after suspending the death conviction.
He was awarded 25-year jail for espionage, 20-year for ordering tortures, and 3-year for contempt of the court.
He was additionally fined $56000 for contempt of the court.
The Amnesty International and other civil rights bodies had termed Morsi's trial fake and a drama.
But these cases were kept intact.
Morsi did not see the sun as a free man after he was deposed from power.
From the year 2013 to 2019 he was kept behind the bars.
He was kept in solitary confinement.
Only three times he was allowed to see his family in six years' of jail.
Security persons also showed their presence in every meeting.
It was extreme that the security men took notes of every matter talked in those meetings.
Morsi was not provided any bed and he slept on the floor.
He did not have the facility of books, newspaper, pen, and the notebook.
He complained to the court a number of times about the absence of medical facilities to him in jail.
But no-one took notice of his grievances.
In 2018, a group of British politicians and lawyers probed the jail period of Morsi.
They found Morsi's confinement falling in the category of 'torture' under the law.
The groups apprehended death of Morsi due to poor facilities to him in confinement.
The apprehensions of the group proved true.
Morsi was brought to the court that was trying him for espionage and secret contacts with Hamas leaders.
Morsi spoke before the Court for five minutes and collapsed all of a sudden.
He was taken to the hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.
Morsi had also been suffering from heart, lever and diabetes problems.
He was died of heart attack.
The human rights organizations held Alsisi responsible for the death of Morsi.
Including the UNO, and AI other world bodies demanded independent and impartial investigations into his death.
The strongest reaction came from the Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
He described Morsi's death as murder.
A funeral prayer (in the absence of body) for Morsi was also held in Istanbul.
Including Tayyip Erdogan thousands of Turkish citizens attended the prayer.
The Ikhwanun Muslimin declared Morsi's death a blatant act of murder.
On its website, the organization highlighted its stand that Morsi was murdered in cold blood.
The demand to investigate into Morsi's death was on the rife while the Eyptian government and the media...
were trying to hush it up as a normal happening.
The Egyptian government turned down as 'irresponsible' the Turkish claim that Morsi was murdered.
The Egyptian TV anchors projected that Morsi was provided every facility in jail.
One anchor claimed that Morsi was provided food of his choice in confinement.
That Morsi had taste for duck meat that was also provide to him in jail.
One anchor even ruthlessly said, so what if Morsi was dead. Let him remain dead.
What in your view who was responsible for the death of Morsi? Whether his death should be probed?
Do write your answer in the comments section.
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