Erdogan says Egyptian ex-president Morsi was 'killed', calls for trial

Ousted Egyptian leader Mohamed Morsi who collapsed and died in court was "killed", Turkey's President Recep Erdogan claimed today.

During a speech in Istanbul, Erdogan said the deposed Egyptian president allegedly "flailed" in a Cairo courtroom for 20 minutes on Monday and nobody assisted him.

At Istanbul's Fatih mosque where thousands joined in prayers, Erdogan called Morsi a "martyr" and blamed Egypt's "tyrants" for his death adding that he didn't believe that Morsi died of natural causes.

"I will follow up on the process related to Morsi's death and do whatever is needed for Egypt to be tried in worldwide courts", he said.

In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez "condemned" the suggestion, insisting it was "a case of natural death".

"Morsi was struggling on the floor in the courtroom for 20 minutes". In the meantime, he called on the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to take action following Morsi's death, though he did not specify how exactly.

"Any sudden death in custody must be followed by a prompt, impartial, thorough and transparent investigation carried out by an independent body to clarify the cause of death", he said.

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Mohammed Morsi collapsed and then died in court.

El-Sissi has yet to comment on Morsi's death.

A leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood group, Morsi won Egypt's first free presidential election in 2012, a year after an uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.

He said the investigation must "encompass all aspects of the authorities' treatment of Mr. Morsi to examine whether the conditions of his detention had an impact on his death".

Egypt accused the United Nations human rights office of trying to politicise Morsi's death.

Public opposition to his government grew and millions of anti-government protesters took to the streets across Egypt to mark the first anniversary of the day he took office, on 30 June 2013.