Mohamed Morsi

Politician

• Born: August 20, 1951
• Birthplace: El-Adwah, Egypt
• Died: June 17, 2019
• Place of death: Cairo, Egypt

Also known as: Mohammed Morsi; Mohammad Morsi; Mohammed Mohammed Morsi ‘Issa al-‘Ayyat

Education: Cairo University; University of Southern California

Significance: Mohamed Morsi was elected president of Egypt in 2012 in the country’s first free elections. He replaced Hosni Mubarak, who had ruled for nearly three decades. Morsi served as president for just over one year before being removed in a military coup in July 2013. He spent the remainder of his life fighting criminal allegations related to his time in office.

Background

One of six children, Mohamed Morsi was born on August 20, 1951, in the village of El-Adwah, Sharqiya governorate, Egypt. His father was a farmer, and his mother was a homemaker. He attended Cairo University and graduated in 1975 with a bachelor’s degree in engineering. From 1975 to 1976, he was a soldier in the Egyptian army. After completing his military duty, he returned to Cairo University and earned a master’s degree in engineering metallurgy in 1978.

Morsi briefly worked as an assistant teacher in the Engineering Faculty at Cairo University before heading to the United States for his doctoral studies. He received a PhD in materials engineering from the University of Southern California in 1982. From 1982 to 1985, he worked as a lecturer and assistant professor of engineering at California State University, Northridge. He also worked on national aeronautics and space administration projects to develop engines for the space shuttle.

In 1985 Morsi returned to Egypt and became a professor at Zagazig University. He later became the head of the materials sciences department. He worked at Zagazig until 2010.

Political Career

In the late 1970s Morsi joined the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization founded in the 1920s, while studying in California. When he returned to Egypt, he became active in the group’s political activities, much of which were secret due to long-standing opposition from Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s administration. In 2000 Morsi won a seat in the People’s Assembly, the lower house of Egypt’s parliamentary government. He was elected the head of the Muslim Brotherhood bloc in the People’s Assembly. He also was appointed to the Guidance Bureau, the highest executive group within the Muslim Brotherhood.

Morsi lost his seat in the People’s Assembly in the 2005 parliamentarian elections. Believing the elections were rigged, he led protests in response. He was arrested in May 2006 and jailed for seven months.

On January 27, 2011, Morsi was arrested again when he participated in a popular uprising calling for then-president Mubarak to resign. He and numerous Muslim Brotherhood activists were imprisoned in the Wadi el-Natroun prison north of Cairo. Two days later, a mob attacked the jail complex and freed over ten thousand inmates, including Morsi.

Mubarak stepped down on February 11, 2011, and the Supreme Council of Armed Forces took over the administration of the government. That same month, the Muslim Brotherhood formed the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and elected Morsi its president. Morsi won the 2012 presidential election, defeating Ahmed Shafik, a former prime minister in Mubarak’s regime, and was sworn in as president on June 30, 2012. He then resigned as head of the FJP.

Days before the run-off election, Egypt’s interim government took two actions that threatened the new government. The Supreme Constitutional Court dissolved the parliament, which was controlled by the FJP following the 2011 parliamentary elections, and the Supreme Council of Armed Forces issued a constitutional declaration limiting presidential powers.

Morsi countered these actions in November 2012 by issuing an edict that gave him broad powers. He declared he was not bound by any judicial oversight until a permanent constitution went into effect. He issued another edict stating the court lacked the power to dissolve parliament, and he tasked the parliament with drafting a new constitution, rushing the process in order to meet a December referendum.

Many people considered Morsi’s actions dictatorial. They considered the drafting of the constitution by the Islamic-controlled parliament undemocratic because it did not reflect the views of all groups—such as liberals, Christians, women, secularists, and young people—in Egypt’s society. Opposition to Morsi’s leadership grew, and on December 9, 2012, Morsi declared martial law. On December 15, voters approved the draft constitution.

During the next six months, opposition to Morsi intensified. Mass demonstrations were held in several cities, and protesters called for Morsi to resign. On June 30, 2013, millions of people protested outside the presidential palace. Egypt’s Supreme Council of Armed Forces gave Morsi an ultimatum: share power or resign. Morsi ignored the ultimatum. Demonstrations continued and grew violent as clashes broke out between Morsi’s supporters and opponents. Over one thousand protesters were killed by security forces.

On July 3, 2013, the armed forces removed Morsi from power and arrested him. In May 2014, voters elected Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, a former chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces, Egypt’s new president.

After his removal, Morsi was charged with several crimes, including inciting murder, and was convicted of several charges in 2015. He was sentenced to death for acts of violence that occurred during the prison break in 2011, to life in prison for conspiring with the foreign militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas to commit terrorism, and to twenty years in prison for acts of violence against protesters.

During a June 17, 2019, court hearing on related espionage charges, Morsi collapsed and died on arrival at the hospital. He had been detained for years in Cairo's Tora Prison under conditions that the United Nations human rights commissioner later deemed "brutal," and was reportedly denied medical care for his diabetes, hypertension, and liver disease.

Impact

Morsi was not only the first democratically elected president of Egypt, but also the first Islamist president of an Arab country. Although Morsi was credited with ending six decades of rule by military dictatorship, he failed to initiate the necessary reforms that would lead Egypt’s transition to a successful democracy and fulfill the goals of the revolution that started with the Arab Spring.

Personal Life

Morsi was married to Naglaa Ali Mahmoud. They had five children, two of whom were born in the United States.

Bibliography

Hendawi, Hamza. “Egypt Court: Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and Hezbollah Broke President Morsi Out of Jail in 2011.” Business Insider. Business Insider, 23 June 2013. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.

Khalifa, Sherif. Egypt’s Lost Spring: Causes and Consequences. Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2015. Print.

Kirkpatrick, David D. “Blow to Transition as Court Dissolves Egypt’s Parliament.” New York Times. New York Times, 14 June 2012. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.

Mostyn, Trevor. “Mohamed Morsi Obituary.” The Guardian, 17 June 2019, www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/17/mohamed-morsi-obituary. Accessed 6 Oct. 2020.‌

“Profile: Egypt's Mohammed Morsi.” BBC. BBC, 21 Apr. 2015. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.

“Profile: Mohamed Morsi.” Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera Media Network, 21 July 2013. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.

“What’s Become of Egypt’s Morsi?” BBC. BBC, 16 June 2015. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.