Morsi on his first night in prison

Egyptian and Arab media sources attempt to paint a picture of former President Morsi’s first night in prison on Wednesday following the first session of his trial relying on anonymous security sources.

With the accuracy of the reports impossible to verify, they vary widely from portraying Morsi as overwhelmed and incoherent to painting a picture of a dignified and composed leader bravely facing his ordeal.

Al-Shorouk daily newspaper describes Morsi in his first night in prison as “bewildered, disturbed and distraught,” according to a security source.

The privately-owned daily newspaper pokes fun at Morsi’s speaking style, which became notorious after a series of long speeches during his year-long presidency. The paper reports that “according to more than one source in the prison” that Morsi spoke in incoherent sentences “attempting, as usual, to be funny and mocking his new situation.”

The newspaper writes that Morsi spoke about being the legitimate president of the country and about being most frustrated with not being able to accomplish any of his goals because of people who stood in his way, from protests to his arrest and subsequent trial.

Morsi was taken to the prison hospital with high blood pressure shortly after being admitted, the paper reports, adding that as Morsi was passing by, other inmates taunted him by singing “Bless your hands,” a song that salutes the military for overthrowing him and that has gained massive popularity among military supporters over the past few months.

The paper portrays the former president as talking to everyone from the guards to the doctor who examined him about the unfairness of his situation and cracking jokes that were met with no response.

The Turkish Anadol news service paints a much more dignified picture of Morsi on his first night in prison.

The agency says that Morsi was mostly quiet. The agency quotes security sources stating that prison officials sat with the former president for an hour as soon as he arrived to brief him with the regulations of the prison, to which he responded saying that he already knows them.

Anadol says that the former president watched television shows for a while then spent the rest of the night praying and reading Quran.