Egyptian court sentences ex-President Morsi to death
CAIRO — A Cairo court sentenced ousted President Mohammed Morsi to death Saturday on charges of conspiring with foreign militants to break out of prison during Egypt’s uprising four years ago.
The verdict, which can be appealed, marks a stunning blow to the pro-democracy revolt that saw thousands of Egyptians rise up against an increasingly corrupt police state.
Security forces had arrested Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, during the 18-day rebellion in 2011, and he escaped from prison several days later. He was then elected president in the country’s first free and fair democratic elections in 2012, before Egypt’s military ousted the Islamist leader in a dramatic coup a year later.
2011 uprising
Saturday’s verdict appeared to criminalize the events of the 2011 uprising against the rule of Hosni Mubarak, alleging that Morsi and fellow Islamists conspired with Hamas and Hezbollah operatives to escape incarceration and stage a revolt against the state.
More than 100 other defendants, most of whom were tried in absentia, were also sentenced to death on the same charges. In a separate case, 16 defendants were given the death penalty for allegedly leaking state secrets to Iran while Morsi was in power. The presiding judge did not sentence Morsi in that case, postponing a final verdict until next month.
“Today will be remembered as one of the darkest days” in Egypt’s history, Amr Darrag, a senior Muslim Brotherhood official and former member of Morsi’s Cabinet, said in an e-mail. Darrag is living in exile in Turkey.
Saturday’s judgment was based on “lies, hearsay and paranoid conspiracy theories,” the statement said. It is “another deeply disturbing attempt to permanently erase democracy” in Egypt, Darrag said.
In recent months, Egyptian courts have sentenced hundreds of people to death in a series of mass hearings rights groups have said defy international standards for fair trials. Only one Islamist defendant — who was recorded throwing anti-Morsi demonstrators from the top of a building — has been hanged. Tens of thousands have been imprisoned.
Major turnaround
Morsi’s death sentence marks a stunning turnaround for the Islamist leader and the Brotherhood group from which he hails. The movement secured a majority in Egypt’s parliament in 2012, and Morsi’s presidency had offered hope the country could break the military’s decadeslong hold on the executive branch.
But Morsi proved to be an impotent leader, granting himself sweeping powers but failing to bring state institutions under his control. When massive crowds took to the streets to demand Morsi’s resignation in June 2013, Egypt’s defense minister and current president, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, ordered his arrest.
Sissi then presided over a widespread crackdown on the Muslim Brother- hood and other dissidents who opposed his rule.
As Saturday’s verdict was read, Morsi and his co-defendants chanted against the military.