President Morsi’s Family Files Lawsuit Demanding Visitation Rights

The defense team of Dr. Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first elected civilian president, said on Tuesday that it filed a lawsuit with the Administrative Court to enable his family to visit him on a regular basis after his health has deteriorated, and the court’s refusal to transfer him to a private hospital for proper medical treatment.

Head of Dr. Morsi’s defense team, attorney Abdel Mun’im ‘Abdel Maqsoud, indicated that since July 2013, the court has only allowed three visits to President Morsi: the first visit was for his defense team and family in November 2013, the second was for his family only in June 2017, and the third was last month for his defense team. Mr. Abdel Maqsoud confirmed that preventing prison visits is contrary to the prison code and regulations, which stipulate that every prisoner is entitled to a visit once a month by his family.

President Morsi’s family complained that the current prison conditions are threatening his life, and endangering his health. He has been held incommunicado in a detention facility, at Mazra’at Turrah, in inhuman conditions. He is not allowed to exercise or to communicate with any of the other detainees. In addition, he receives small quantities of food and water; he previously complained about the contamination of food provided to him "that could lead to a crime should it had been eaten," as he described.

Dr. Ahmed Mohamed Morsi, the President’s son, said in a previous statement: 
 

"The President is diabetic, and needs to be regular on specific medicines and a specific diet, which the prison administration refuses to provide, at the orders of the higher authorities and the prison authority, which threatens his life. He also suffers of herniated discs in his lower back, which require special mattresses. Due to medical negligence, he’s also losing vision in his left eye”