Death Sentences for Muslim Brotherhood Leaders in Egypt: Political Motivations Revealed

2024-03-12 11:16:06

Cairo: Egypt’s Supreme State Security Court sentenced eight Ikhwan al-Muslimeen (Muslim Brotherhood) leaders to death for plotting to overthrow the government of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Supreme leader Mohammad Badi and others have been charged with conspiring to overthrow the government and participating in the uprising in 2013 following the ouster of the then president Mohamed Morsi by the army. Mahmood Issat, who was appointed as successor to Muhammad Badi following his arrest, is among those sentenced to death.

Muhammad Al Beltaghy, who was the general secretary of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), a political wing of the Ikhwanul Muslimeen, Usama Yassin, a member of the Morsi cabinet, former MP Amr Zaki, party guidance bureau members Assam Abdul Majeed and Muhammad Abdul Maksud, and speaker Safwat Hezaghi. Others sentenced to death.

At the end of a three-year mass trial involving 79 accused, the Supreme State Security Court, headed by Judge Muhammad Al-Sayed Al-Sharbini, sentenced eight people to death. 37 persons were sentenced to life imprisonment and six to 15 years rigorous imprisonment while 21 persons were acquitted. An appeal once morest the verdict is allowed.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Attar, director of the Egyptian Network for Human Rights, said the verdict was politically motivated and that they had been subjected to serious violations, including detention contrary to the constitution and due process, torture and denial of legal representation.

In 2012, following the ouster of Egypt’s dictator Hosni Mubarak through the ‘Jasmine Revolution’, the Brotherhood leader Mohammed Morsi was elected president. The army that expelled him took power under the leadership of al-Sisi. A sit-in was organized in Cairo’s Rabiatul Adawiyah Square in protest. Later, a case was registered once morest 79 people with severe charges. Hundreds of people were killed in the military crackdown on the six-week-long strike. Morsi was charged with various crimes and imprisoned. Morsi died in 2019 while in prison.

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