Sudan opposition Islamists decries Egypt’s death sentence against Morsi

May 16, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP) led by Hassan al-Turabi has denounced a decision by an Egyptian judge to refer the ousted president Mohamed Morsi to Egypt’s top religious authority to consider death penalty against them.

On Saturday, a court in Cairo sentenced to death Morsi and 105 co-defendants for allegedly taking part in a mass jailbreak during Egypt’s January 2011 uprising that ousted president Hosni Mubarak.

Morsi is the first president to be referred to the mufti in Egypt’s history. The opinion of the mufti is not binding to the court, but Egyptian law makes it necessary for judges to seek a religious point of view on any death sentence.

PCP deputy chairman, Ibrahim al-Sanosi, warned at a press conference on Saturday that Egypt would witness a strong internal strife if Morsi and his companions were executed.

“We reject the decision of the Egyptian court and we will launch a strong campaign against the ruling with the backing of the Islamic movements across the world”, the Sudanese Islamist said.

He said that president Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi would pay heavy price if Morsi and his brothers were put to death, saying he will be punished in the afterlife if he escaped punishment in the worldly life.

Al-Sanousi pointed that execution of Morsi would trigger a civil war in Egypt, stressing that violence would move from Sinai into the heart of Egypt and the situation would be similar to Syria, Libya and Yemen.

PCP political secretary, Kamal Omer, for his part, described the court’s decision against Morsi and his aides as “unjust and barbaric”, demanding the grand mufti not to endorse the decision.

Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, was ousted by the military in July 2013 after only one year in office following mass protests against his rule.

The opposition Islamist party is the first Sudanese political force to condemn the ouster of Morsi.

Following the toppling of Morsi, who belonged to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, PCP said that they were disappointed that Sudanese opposition alliance of the National Consensus Forces (NCF) backed his ouster even though he was democratically elected.

They later left the NCF ranks and joined the government-led national dialogue process.

CRITICISM FOR THE COURT’S DECISION

Meanwhile, Amnesty International (AI) said on Saturday the court’s recommendation to sentence Morsi and more than 100 other defendants to death after grossly unfair trials shows the deplorable state of the country’s criminal justice system.

Said Boumedouha, deputy director of AI’s Middle East and North Africa programme described Morsi’s trial as “nothing but a charade based on null and void procedures, saying he must either be released immediately or retried in a civilian court with full fair-trial guarantees.

On the other hand, a senior security official in Gaza strip said that eight dead Palestinians are among the 105 defendants referred to Egypt’s grand mufti to consider death sentences against them on jailbreak charges.

Deputy minister of the interior in Gaza, Kamel Abu Madi told Anadolu Agency that eight dead Palestinians were among those referred to the mufti, noting that three of those eight were killed before the events of January 2011 and the remaining five were killed afterwards.

He expressed regret over the court ruling, saying it brings into question the integrity and credibility of Egypt’s judiciary.

(ST)