Egyptian court sentences Morsi to 20 years
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AN Egyptian criminal court yesterday sentenced ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi to 20 years in prison on charges linked to the killing of protesters in 2012, the first verdict to be issued against the country’s first freely elected leader.
The conviction, which can be appealed, and muted Islamist reaction following it underscore the dramatic downfall of Morsi and Egypt’s once-powerful Muslim Brotherhood group. However, Morsi escaped receiving a death sentence in the case, which Islamists derided as a “farce.”
Morsi and the Brotherhood swiftly rose to power in elections after Hosni Mubarak’s 2011 ouster, only to find themselves imprisoned a year later when millions protested against them for abusing power and the military overthrew the government.
But as Mubarak and members of his government increasingly find themselves acquitted of criminal charges, Morsi and the Brotherhood are at the receiving end of heavy-handed sentences.
During the hearing, Judge Ahmed Youssef issued his verdict as Morsi and other defendants in the case stood in a soundproof glass cage inside a makeshift courtroom at Egypt’s national police academy. Seven were tried in absentia.
As well as Morsi, 12 Brotherhood leaders and Islamist supporters, including Mohammed el-Beltagy and Essam el-Erian, were sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Youssef dropped murder charges in the case and said the sentences were linked to the “show of force” and unlawful detention associated with the case.
The case stems from violence outside the presidential palace in December 2012. Morsi’s supporters attacked opposition protesters who were demanding he call off a referendum on an Islamist-drafted constitution. Clashes developed into deadly confrontations overnight that killed at least 10 people.
At yesterday’s hearing, Morsi and the rest of the defendants raised the four-finger sign symbolizing the sit-in at the Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque, where hundreds were killed when security forces violently dispersed the sprawling sit-in by Morsi’s supporters on August 14, 2013. They also smiled for cameras filming the hearing.
It was a far cry from when the trial first began, when Morsi repeatedly shouted: “I am the president of the republic!”
During subsequent court appearances, Morsi and other defendants turned their backs to the court when Youssef played several videos of the clashes outside the palace in 2012.
From his exile in Turkey’s capital, Istanbul, top Muslim Brotherhood figure Amr Darrag called the ruling “a sad and terrible day in Egyptian history.”
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