PROFILE: Who is MB leader Mohamed Morsi

CAIRO – 17 June 2019: Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi died on Monday in court after the conclusion of a trial session in the espionage lawsuit.

According to sources, after the session ended, Morsi fainted, and later was declared dead.

The former Egyptian president was sentenced to three years in prison and fined 2m Egyptian pounds (£83,000) after being found guilty of insulting the judiciary.

Morsi was still being tried in several other cases, some related to espionage and conspiring with foreign groups. A death sentence on charges relating to a mass jailbreak was overturned in November 2016.

The former president, who led the outlawed terrorist-designated Muslim Brotherhoodgroup, was already serving a life sentence after being found guilty of spying for Qatar.

He was also given a 20-year sentence over the killing of protesters in December 2012.

Mohamed Morsi Isa Al-Ayyat (1951 – 2019) served as the president of Egypt, from 30 June 2012 to 3 July 2013, until a popular uprising ousted him from position.

As president, Morsi issued a constitutional declaration in late November 2012 that granted him unlimited powers and the power to legislate without judicial oversight or review of his acts.

The new constitution that was then hastily finalized by the Islamist-dominated constitutional assembly, presented to the president, and scheduled for a referendum, before the Supreme Constitutional Court could rule on the constitutionality of the assembly.

This was described by independent press agencies not aligned with the regime as an "Islamist coup".

This, along with complaints of prosecutions of journalists and attacks on nonviolent demonstrators, led to the 2012 Egyptian protests.

On 30 June 2013, protests erupted across Egypt, in which protesters called for the president's resignation.

In response to the events, Morsi was given a 48-hour ultimatum by the military to meet their demands and to resolve political differences, which Morsi disregarded, along with the demands of Egyptians, which led to his ousting.