Egypt: Ex-President Mohammed Morsi dies after court appearance

A top figure in the now-banned Islamist movement Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi had just spoken from a cage at a hearing on charges of espionage. State TV said the cause of death was a heart attack, reported BBC.

Morsi was ousted from his post after just serving as the President for a year.

He was in custody since his removal following a mass protest in the nation.

According to BBC report, the Muslim Brotherhood said the death was a "full-fledged murder". 

Morsi collapsed moments after addressing the court in Cairo over charges of espionage related to suspected contacts with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which had close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, reported the British news channel.

He was pronounced dead at 16:50 local time.

Morsi, who became Egypt's first democratically elected leader in 2012, had already been sentenced to more than 45 years in prison in three separate trials, including for leading an outlawed group, detention and torture of anti-government protesters and leaking state secrets, reported BBC.

"He spoke 7 minutes just before the trial session adjourned," Morsy's lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud told CNN.

"A minute after, we saw fuss in the court glass box, we could hear the defendants screaming, Dr. Morsi has fallen," Abdel Maqsoud, who is also the lead lawyer for the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement, was quoted as saying by CNN.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condoled the death of the former Egyptian leader.

He described the former Egyptian leader as a 'brother'.