Thousands In Istanbul Pray For Former Egyptian President Morsi
Thousands joined in prayer in Istanbul on Tuesday for former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi who died the previous day after collapsing during a trial hearing in a Cairo court.
The prayers, called by Turkey’s religious authority Diyanet, took place in the city’s Fatih mosque. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a close ally of Morsi, is due to attend afternoon prayers there.
Ankara’s relations with Cairo deteriorated after the Egyptian military, then led by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, ousted Morsi in 2013. Sisi then became president.
Erdogan on Monday called Morsi a “martyr” and blamed Egypt’s “tyrants” for his death.
Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president in 2012 after the Arab Spring uprisings, was overthrown after a turbulent year in power.
He was buried on Tuesday, as rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called for an independent probe into the causes of his death.
