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Egyptian court seeks death penalty for former president Mursi
Ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi is seen behind bars during his trial at a court in Cairo, April 30, 2015. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Al Youm Al Saabi Newspaper
16/05/2015
CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court on Saturday sought the death penalty for former president Mohamed Mursi and more than 100 other members of the Muslim Brotherhood in connection with a mass jail break in 2011.
Mursi and his fellow defendants, including the Brotherhood's top leader Mohamed Badie, were convicted for killing and kidnapping policemen, attacking police facilities and breaking out of jail during the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak.
The court, expected to make a final ruling on June 2, also sought capital punishment for Brotherhood leader Khairat el-Shater and 15 others for conspiring with foreign militant groups against Egypt.
The cases, like all capital sentences, will be referred to Egypt's top religious authority, the Grand Mufti, for an opinion before any executions can take place.
Mursi can appeal the verdict, although he has said the court is not legitimate, describing all legal proceedings against him as part of what he calls a coup staged by former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in 2013.
Mursi was elected after Mubarak was desposed. In turn he was overthrown after mass protests against his rule in 2013.
He stood defiant in a court cage in a blue prison outfit pumping his fists in the air before the sentences were read out.
Muslim Brotherhood official Amr Darrag condemned the court's decision and called on the international community to take action.
"This is a political verdict and represents a murder crime that is about to be committed, and it should be stopped by the international community," Darrag, co-founder of the dissolved Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Brotherhood, told Reuters in Istanbul.
Human rights groups have accused Egyptian authorities of widespread abuses in a crackdown on Brotherhood supporters as well as secular activists, allegations they deny.
(Reporting by Omar Fahmy and Stephen Kalin; Writing by Michael Georgy Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
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