CAIRO: Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, offered condolences in a tweet on Monday to the family of former Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi "and the brotherly Egyptian people".

Mursi, imprisoned since he was toppled by the military in 2013, collapsed in a cage during a court session on Monday and died shortly afterward, Egypt's public prosecutor said.

Mursi, a top figure in the Muslim Brotherhood who became Egypt's first freely elected president in 2012, was overthrown after mass protests against this rule.

Qatar strongly backs the Muslim Brotherhood, which since Mursi's fall has been outlawed in Egypt with many of its leading figures imprisoned.