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An Egyptian court has sentenced 12 supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi to death. Yesterday, the 12 were sentenced to death on charges of being linked to the deadly shooting of Major-General Nabil Farag last year. This came as the African Union restored Egypt’s membership of the continental bloc.
Those sentenced on Wednesday were among 23 Muslim Brotherhood supporters accused of being tied to the killing of the police general during a police raid in Cairo on September 19, 2014. The defendants were also charged with “membership in a Jihadist organisation”. The other 11 are on the run.
Earlier this year, an Egyptian court handed down death sentences to Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and 682 supporters.
In March, the same court handed death sentences to 529 other Brotherhood supporters.
The court’s move comes days after Egypt’s former army chief, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, was sworn in as president.
Sisi led the ouster of Morsi last July, triggering demonstrations across Egypt.
Morsi was the country’s first democratically-elected president following the revolution that toppled long-time dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Sisi is also accused of leading a severe crackdown against the supporters of Morsi and the Brotherhood movement last year.
Hundreds of the group’s supporters have been killed in clashes with the Egyptian security forces over the past few months.
Rights groups say at least 1,400 people have been killed in the political violence since Morsi’s ouster, “most of them due to excessive force used by security forces.
Meanwhile, the AU Peace and Security Council unanimously agreed to end Egypt’s suspension, almost a year after the 54-nation bloc suspended Egypt’s membership following the military coup and Morsi’s ouster.
“All ambassadors have endorsed the panel’s recommendation for such an act,” an unnamed source at the ambassadorial meeting said.
The African body had suspended Egypt’s membership two days after the military coup on July 3, 2013. The suspension came as an automatic move made in case of an unconstitutional change of government in a member state.
El-Sisi was sworn-in as president on June 8 after winning a presidential election boycotted by the Muslim Brotherhood. – Press TV
Online Reporter