A judicial body threw out a lawsuit on Wednesday that called for a medical examination of President Mohamed Morsy to ensure he is fit to govern the country.
The Administrative Court headed by Farid Nazeeh had referred the lawsuit, which was filed by lawyer Hatem Fathi Farahat, to the State Commissioners Authority, a government-run consultative judicial body.
Farahat claimed that Morsy may be taking medications interfering with his mental abilities, which would render him unfit to serve as president.
On 13 June 2008, Morsy underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor and has suffered subsequent epileptic seizures, according to the privately owned Al-Fagr newspaper.
Morsy's office countered those reports, claiming that the report was inaccurate and that Morsy’s operation removed a benign tumor from the lining of his skull, not from the brain, and that the operation did not have any negative consequences on the president’s health.
Reporting on the state of the president's health was taboo for three decades prior to the 25 January revolution. Prominent journalist Ibrahim Eissa was sentenced to two months in prison in 2008 after being indicted on charges of spreading rumors regarding former President Hosni Mubarak's ill health. Mubarak later pardoned him.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
