EU diplomat: Morsi safe with access to outside world

Deposed Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi is safe and well, according to the EU’s top diplomat who has been his first contact with the outside world.

Foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said they had a “friendly, open and very frank” discussion about the country’s political crisis.

Egypt’s army-backed administration originally said they were holding him for his own safety, but last week authorities announced he was being detained pending an investigation. His supporters have decried his detention as illegal.