By MAGGIE MICHAEL
This image made from video provided by Egypt’s Interior Ministry shows ousted President Mohammed Morsi,center, arrives for a trial hearing in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Nov. 3, 2013. Emerging from four months in secret detention, Egypt’s deposed Islamist president defiantly rejected a court’s authority to try him Monday, saying he was the country’s “legitimate” leader and those that overthrew him should face charges instead.(AP Photo/Egyptian Interior Ministry)
Mohammed Morsi
This image made from video provided by Egypt’s Interior Ministry shows ousted President Mohammed Morsi inside a vehicle as he arrives at a police academy for a trial hearing in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Nov. 3, 2013. Emerging from four months in secret detention, Egypt’s deposed Islamist president defiantly rejected a court’s authority to try him Monday, saying he was the country’s “legitimate” leader and those that overthrew him should face charges instead.(AP Photo/Egyptian Interior Ministry)
Mohammed Morsi
This image made from video provided by Egypt’s Interior Ministry shows ousted President Mohammed Morsi, right, speaking from the defendant’s cage as he stands with co-defendants in a makeshift courtroom during a trial hearing in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Nov. 3, 2013. Emerging from four months in secret detention, Egypt’s deposed Islamist president defiantly rejected a court’s authority to try him Monday, saying he was the country’s “legitimate” leader and those that overthrew him should face charges instead.(AP Photo/Egyptian Interior Ministry)
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Map shows prison where Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi will reside.; 3c x 5 inches; 146 mm x 127 mm;
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CAIRO (AP) — The family of Egypt’s toppled president visited him in prison on Thursday, their first face-to-face contact with him since a popularly-backed military coup ousted him from power four months ago, his wife said.
Naglaa Ali told The Associated Press by phone that she and other family members met with Mohammed Morsi inside a maximum-security prison called Borg al-Arab, which sits in a remote desert area near Alexandria, Egypt’s second city.
Ali said the visit, monitored by security officers, lasted one hour.
“Thank God, it’s just like I saw him yesterday. … He is more steadfast and bold,” she told the AP when asked about his condition.
Morsi was toppled in a July 3 coup after millions took to the streets demanding him to step down. He had been held at a secret military facility with no access to outside world, only allowed to make a few short telephone calls to his family.
That changed Monday, when Morsi appeared in public for the first time since the coup at a hearing on charges he incited murder and violence during clashes last year outside the presidential palace. Morsi’s family didn’t attend the hearing.
“Last time I saw him was on July 3 in the morning, since then … I have not seen him,” his wife said. She said that Morsi spent most of the time Thursday asking about the family.
“It was just as I expected. He was assuring me and I was assuring him,” she said.
Asked if she was worried about his condition, she said: “We didn’t waste time discussing these matters.”
While Morsi and leaders of his group, the Muslim Brotherhood, face charges related to violence during Morsi’s one-year rule, Morsi’s predecessor Hosni Mubarak could return to prison in a week.
Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi told daily newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm in an interview published Thursday that Mubarak will return to prison in mid-November. Mubarak is now under house arrest at a military hospital after being held for two years. Previously under Egyptian law, authorities only could detain prisoners on trial for capital crimes for two years.
El-Beblawi said that Mubarak will return to prison as lawmakers recently changed the detention law.
Mubarak is being retried on charges related to the killing of nearly 900 protesters during 2011 uprising that led to his ouster. He also faces separate charges in corruption cases.
