Authorities Palestine, Jordan prevent prayers for deceased former Egyptian president Morsi

Authorities Palestine, Jordan prevent prayers for deceased former Egyptian president Morsi
Palestinian and Jordanian authorities have prevented prayers held to extend condolences for former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who died during a court session on Monday.
2 min read
18 June, 2019
Sympathisers were prevented from observing solidarity prayers [Getty]

Authorities in Palestine and Jordan have prevented prayers aimed to extend condolences for former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who died during a court session on Monday.

Palestinian Authority police in Nablus stopped on Tuesday locals from holding the event to express their sympathy and solidarity with the deceased president.

Security forces said the event was stopped following an order from "supreme sovereign authorities" to prevent "any misunderstanding with the current Egyptian regime", lawyer Wael al-Hazim told The New Arab’s Arabic service.

Palestinian police had reportedly called activists over the phone and asked them to stop calls and invites to the condolence ceremony.

In Jordan, sympathisers were prevented from observing, al-Ghaib prayer, a funeral prayer performed remotely upon a dead Muslim.

Murad al-Adayla, secretary-general of the Islamic Action Front (the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan), said Amman Governor Saad Shihab informed him that the prayers would not be authorised.

Egypt's first democratically-elected president Mohamed Morsi was buried in Cairo on Tuesday a day after he collapsed in court and died.

Read more: World leaders, groups pay tribute to Egypt's Morsi

Morsi, 67, and was elected president in 2012 in the country's first free elections following the ousting the year before of longtime autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak.

The military toppled him in 2013 after protests and crushed the Brotherhood in a major crackdown, arresting Morsi and many others of the group's leaders.

During his years in prison, Morsi, who was known to have diabetes, was held mainly in solitary confinement, denied healthcare and was largely barred from receiving visitors.

His family was only allowed to visit three times.

Since the military coup, Morsi and other Brotherhood leaders have been put on multiple and lengthy trials.

Morsi was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of ordering Brotherhood members to break up a protest against him, resulting in deaths.

A death sentence against him was overturned and commuted to life imprisonment while multiple cases were still pending. Monday's session was part of a retrial on charges of espionage with the Palestinian Hamas militant group.