Dr. Mohamed Morsi – A Brief Biography

Dr. Mohamed Morsi – A Brief Biography

* Dr. Mohamed Morsi, Chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party and former member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Guidance Bureau, is also one of the most prominent political leadership figures of the Brotherhood, the organization that led the struggle against the ousted repressive regime in its last decade.

Dr. Morsi was also the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood’s parliamentary bloc at the People’s Assembly of 2000-2005, and President of the Department of Materials Science, Faculty of Engineering at Zagazig University.

* His full name is Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Issa Ayyat. He was born in August 1951 in Egypt’s Sharqiya province. He received a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Cairo University in 1975, then a Master of Engineering degree in Metallurgy from the same university in 1978. He further received a doctorate (PhD) in engineering from the University of Southern California, 1982.

* He worked as a lecturer and a Teacher Assistant at the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, and the University of Southern California, US.  He also worked as an Assistant Professor  at the University of North Ridge in California between 1982  and 1985, and as a Professor and Head of Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at Zagazig University from the year 1985 till 2010. He was elected a member of the Faculty Staff Club at the University of Zagazig.

* He was also selected as a member of the International Conference of Political Parties and Organizations, and founder-member of the Egyptian Resist the Zionist Project Committee.

* Dr. Morsi is known to be a hard worker at each position he held – from the various fields of science, in which he excelled, to his career as a determined political leader, in which he proved his great abilities and skills.

* He has research in several major fields of industry in Egypt related to practical production solutions. He also conducted dozens of studies  in "metal surface treatment", which is one of the scientific precision industries, during his work at NASA on the development of space shuttle engines in the early eighties.

* Due to his constantly firm stance against the repressive measures and oppressive practices of the overthrown regime, Dr. Mohamed Morsi was arrested several times. After the 2005 elections were rigged, Dr. Mohamed Morsi led demonstrations in support for judges demanding independence, refusing referral of some judges to the Competence Commission to punish them for their outspoken views against blatant elections fraud.

Consequently, Dr. Morsi was arrested on the morning of May 18, 2006 with 500 members of the Brotherhood during their protest in front of the North Cairo Court and Al-Jalaa Court Complex in Central Cairo. He spent seven months behind bars.

* He was arrested, yet again, on the morning of the “Friday of Anger” on January 28, 2011 during the revolution of January 25 along with a large number of Brotherhood leaders across Egypt. Their arrest was a deliberate attempt by the despotic regime to prevent them from participating in the ‘Friday of Anger’ protests across Egypt. When several prisons were destroyed during the revolution, and many prisoners escaped, Dr. Morsi refused to leave his prison cell. Instead, he contacted satellite TV channels and news agencies demanding the judicial authorities visit the prison and check the legal position of jailed Muslim Brotherhood leaders, to clarify if there were indeed any legal reasons for their arrest, before leaving prison, since no judicial personnel were available there.

* The injustice suffered by Dr. Mohamed Morsi went beyond his person, extending to his family. His son, Dr. Ahmed, was arrested just after the announcement of his father’s nomination for parliament in 2000. He was also arrested 3 times when his father was an MP at the People’s Assembly.

* After his great endeavors and proven excellence in political work in his five-year term in parliament, Dr. Morsi was chosen by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Shura Council as a member of the group’s Guidance Bureau. After the January 25 Revolution, he was elected by the Muslim Brotherhood Shura Council as Chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party when that was established by the group.

* In Egypt’s Parliament in 2000, Dr. Mohamed Morsi played a prominent and influential role as leader of the parliamentary bloc. He was one of the most active members of parliament, responsible for the most famous questioning sessions in Parliament – for the train crash incident – in which he held the government responsible for the tragic accident. Internationally, he was chosen as the best parliamentarian in the years 2000 – 2005 due to his effective parliamentary performance.

* In the 2005 Parliament elections, Dr. Morsi won the highest number of votes, leaving his nearest rival far behind. But a run-off was announced, after which his rival won through blatant fraud.

* Dr. Morsi played a major role in the political section of the Muslim Brotherhood. He was supervisor of that section which has seen significant action during the recent period, starting from the reform initiative launched by the group in 2004, then the publishing of a political program in 2007, and led the political operations during the parliamentary elections in 2010.