Chair of UK detention panel calls for Mursi probe

LONDON: A British lawmaker who led a review last year of the detention of deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi said on Tuesday there should be an independent international probe into his death.

"Dr Mursi´s death in custody is representative of Egypt´s inability to treat prisoners in accordance with both Egyptian and international law," Conservative MP Crispin Blunt said. He said Cairo "has a duty to explain his unfortunate death and there must be proper accountability for his treatment in custody". "The only step now is a reputable independent international investigation," he said.

Blunt chairs the Independent Detention Review Panel, a group of British MPs and lawyers who published a report in March 2018 into how Mursi was being treated in custody. They concluded that the former president, who had a history of ill-health including diabetes, liver and kidney disease, was not receiving adequate medical care.

They found that his detention "is below the standard expected by international standards for prisoners, and would constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment". In a statement on Tuesday, Blunt said: "We feared that if Dr Mursi was not provided with urgent medical assistance, the damage to his health may be permanent and possibly terminal. "Sadly, we have been proved right." He added that the panel had found that Mursi´s detention conditions could meet the threshold for torture in Egyptian and international law.