SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Bakir Izetbegovic, a member of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Tripartite Presidency of the council, has strongly condemned an Egyptian court’s decision to impose the death penalty on ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.
Izetbegovic recalled that Morsi was the first president of Egypt, who was elected in the first free and democratic elections in that country. “He was overthrown in a coup, and then was arrested and subjected to a politically rigged trial, which aims to brutally crackdown on political rivals and opponents, and ultimately aims for their physical elimination."
He urged the international community to check violations of human rights in Egypt.
"I call on the international community to demonstrate its consistency for respecting the human rights and democratic norms, to do everything to prevent the death penalty for Morsi," he added.
An Egyptian court Saturday referred 122 out of 166 defendants, including Morsi to the country's grand mufti to consider possible death sentences against them over charges of jailbreak and espionage charges.
Morsi's family did not attend Saturday's trial session, citing "their rejection of the legitimacy of the trial".
He is the first president to be referred to the country’s grand mufti in Egypt's history. The opinion of the mufti is non-binding, but Egyptian law makes it necessary for judges to seek a religious point of view on any death sentence.
Last month, Morsi and 12 codefendants were sentenced to 20 years in prison each for allegedly mobilizing supporters to “intimidate, detain and torture” dozens of anti-Morsi protesters during clashes outside eastern Cairo's Ittihadiya presidential palace in December 2012.
Morsi currently faces multiple criminal trials on charges that include espionage and “insulting the judiciary,” charges he says are politically motivated.
Since Morsi's ouster, Egyptian security forces have launched a relentless crackdown on dissent that has targeted both Islamists and secularists, leaving hundreds dead and thousands behind bars.
