EU's foreign policy chief meets with Egypt's Mohamed Morsi

GlobalPost

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, met with ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi on Monday night for a two-hour meeting at an undisclosed location.

Ashton said the deposed leader was "well" and that he had access to newspapers and television. Addressing a press conference Tuesday, she declined to comment on the details of their conversation, saying: "I'm not going to put words in his mouth."

Ashton insisted that she didn't know where Morsi was being held, telling the BBC that it was a military facility that she was taken to by helicopter.

"He is there with two advisers," she told the network. "They are there together... The people around him do care for him."

It was her second visit to Cairo in the last two weeks but her first to see Morsi, who has been held incommunicado since the military removed him from power on July 3.

More from GlobalPost: Coup or not, Egyptians love the military

Ashton also met with Egypt's interim military leader Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, interim president Adly Mansour, and vice president for international affairs Mohamed El Baradei.

She also met representatives from the pro-Morsi coalition.

The Muslim Brotherhood leader is being investigated for a series of crimes, including murder, espionage and conspiracy. The charges could mean Morsi faces the death penalty.

The toppling of his government has caused unrest in Cairo and other cities, where pro- and anti-Muslim Brotherhood crowds have rallied.

Egyptian security forces have killed dozens of pro-Morsi protestors who held sit-ins and marches near the Rabaa al-Adawiya in east Cairo.

Demonstrators for Morsi marched on the Egyptian security headquarters Monday despite warnings by the army that it would take "decisive" action against them.

Sign up for our daily newsletter

Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.