Egypt sloughs off HRW criticism over treatment of Morsi before death

Egypt’s authorities are panning Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director with the Human Rights Watch, for criticizing the Egyptian government’s “failure to allow [Mohamed Morsi] adequate medical care, much less family visits.”

Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president ousted by the military in 2013, collapsed during a trial session on Monday and died.

Egypt’s state information service says Whitson’s statements were “nothing but false claims” and reaffirm what it called HRW’s tradition of “circulating lies.”

The service added that a court had approved Morsi’s request in November 2017 asking that he be “treated at his own expense.”

— AP