Former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi died on Monday in a Cairo hospital after fainting during a session in court.

Judicial and security sources said Morsi had been "animated" during a hearing in the retrial of an espionage case, where he was accused of collaborating with adverse foreign powers and militant groups.

In a statement the office of the attorney general said the court granted Morsi twenty minutes to speak and he fell to the ground in the cage and was transported immediately to the hospital.

A medical report said Morsi arrived at the hospital with no pulse and also not breathing.

Morsi who was Egypt's first democratically elected president, spent just one turbulent year in office after the 2011 uprising before the army toppled him in July 2013.