But critics are saying he was all but assassinated thanks to brutal prison conditions… and his words just before his death were chilling.

The 67-year-old Mohammed Morsi had just addressed the court, speaking from the glass cage he is kept in during sessions and warning that he had "many secrets" he could reveal, a judicial official said.

A few minutes afterward, he collapsed in the cage, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

In his final comments, he continued to insist he was Egypt's legitimate president, demanding a special tribunal, one of his defense lawyers, Kamel Madour told the Associated Press. State TV said Morsi died before he could be taken to the hospital.

Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood accused the government of "assassinating" him through years of poor prison conditions. In a statement, the group demanded an international investigation into Morsi's death and called on Egyptians to protest outside Egypt's embassy across the world.