Egypt’s Morsi to spend 7th Ramadan behind bars: Family

CAIRO

Former President Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first-ever freely elected leader, is now spending his seventh Ramadan behind bars, according to Morsi’s family.

A member of Egypt’s now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, Morsi was ousted and imprisoned in a 2013 military coup after only one year in power.

In a statement issued late Sunday, Morsi’s family said that the former leader was still being kept in solitary confinement.

“The Ramadan fasting month is coming and Morsi remains isolated amid a deliberate news blackout on the conditions of his detention,” the statement reads.

It goes on to assert that Morsi's son, Usama, was also set to spend his third Ramadan behind bars “for simply trying to defend his father via legal means”.

The family describes the continued incarceration of Morsi -- and his son -- as “contrary to all constitutions and laws governing justice in Egypt and the world”.

They also call on “the free people of the world and international rights organizations, especially the UN, to pay heed to these ongoing violations”.

Asserting that the Muslim world is “living through a genuine catastrophe”, the family goes on to stress that the Palestinian cause would remain “at the top of the list of critical Arab and Muslim issues”.

The Egyptian authorities, for their part, have yet to comment on the Morsi family’s statement.

Morsi was jailed in mid-2013 after being ousted by then Defense Minister -- and current President -- Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi in a bloody military coup.