The Cairo Criminal Court has referred the death sentences passed this week against Mohamed Morsi and a number of co-defendants to the Grand Mufti. The Mufti's opinion is purely advisory and a final verdict is to be announced on 2 June. Among the defendants whose files have now been submitted to the Mufti are the Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide, his deputy Khairat Al-Shater, senior leaders Rishad Al-Bayoumi, Essam Al-Erian, Saad Al-Katatni, Mohamed Al-Beltagui, Mahmoud Ezzat, Salah Abdel-Maqsoud and Sheikh Youssef Al-Qaradawi. The sentences have elicited a range of reactions at home and abroad. Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud, the lawyer representing former president Morsi and the defendants, stresses there is no final verdict as yet. “We must wait until the Mufti issues his advice and a final verdict is pronounced on 2 June,” he says. If the sentences are upheld, Abdel-Maqsoud expects the majority of defendants to appeal. He notes, however, that “we cannot appeal Morsi's sentence because he does not recognise the trial. Morsi continues to insist he is Egypt's legitimate president and has said he will refuse to appeal.” The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy (NASL), a pro-Morsi umbrella group formed during the build-up to the 30 June Revolution, backs Morsi, arguing his prosecution is illegitimate because he remains Egypt's elected president. The group has called on the Egyptian people “to sustain and escalate the struggle” and “participate in the extended revolutionary wave beneath the banner ‘Victory and Retribution'.” NASL issued a statement hailing “the steadfastness of president Mohamed Morsi and all the heroes behind bars who have demonstrated steadfastness, resolution, faith in the victory of God, and dedication to the evolution.” Following the sentences protests were held in Cairo, Giza and Alexandria. Sheikh Mohamed Alaaeddin Madi Abul Azayem, the leader of the Azmiya Sufi order, said he agreed with the ruling but noted the same sentence should be upheld against former president Hosni Mubarak. Mustafa Al-Badri, a leading member of the Salafist Front, argued that the ruling and sentences had exposed the extent to which the judiciary opposes the revolution. The rulings did not come as a surprise, he said, and underlined how “the judiciary was completely in the hands of the authorities.” The role of the judiciary had now been reduced to “pressuring any opponents of the regime.” Al-Badri, who expects the regime to use the verdicts and detentions as a bargaining chip in any future negotiations, called for “a strong and effective campaign against the regime”. On the other side of the Salafist divide Nader Bakkar, the Nour Party's assistant head of media affairs, noted on his Twitter account that “we had hoped things would never reach this state.” “We have warned of the danger of such escalatory tactics. We fear negative consequences for the nation, social division and damage to Egypt's international reputation.” “We urge all concerned parties to consider the dangerous state of both the country and the region and to work to towards the restoration of calm.” Tarek Al-Khouli, an activist opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood, argues the rulings handed down to Brotherhood members “mark the final chapter in the story of a group that betrayed the nation and would have driven it to its death had the people of Egypt not risen up.” Mohamed Hussein, general coordinator of the Tamarod movement, issued a statement describing the judiciary as “noble” for sentencing “these traitors”. Reactions to the verdict were not confined to press statements. Within an hour of the court announcing its rulings the van of three prosecutors was ambushed in Al-Arish. The three were killed on the spot, and the driver died from his injury the following day. In Menoufiya the office of the prosecutor was attacked. Unidentified assailants used Molotov cocktails to set fire to parts of the building. In a village in Beheira governorate terrorists bombed three electricity pylons causing power cuts in several towns and villages.
International reaction: Amnesty International denounced the court's ruling as a “charade based on null and void procedures.” In Tunisia the Ennahda movement, the political wing of the Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood, condemned the sentence handed down to Mohamed Morsi and urged Egyptian officials to allow space for national dialogue and reconciliation initiatives that include all Egyptian factions. Hamas, several of whose members received death sentences alongside the Brotherhood leaders, issued a strongly worded statement. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zohri said the group “condemns the decision issued by the Egyptian court on charges, based in false information, brought against Hamas members in the Wadi Natroun prison break case.” The spokesman said “some of the accused, tried in absentia, were martyred before the Egyptian revolution while others are held in prison by the occupying authorities”. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed the ruling was a blast from Egypt's past and criticised the West for its silence. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned that “while some entertain wishes to revive the Mubarak-era in Egypt it is impossible to turn the clock back, just as it is impossible to sustain this level of chaos and crises.” Contrary to Erdogan's claim the West did not remain silent. In a statement released during an official visit to Jordan, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said: “To us in Germany, the ruling [the death sentence] is a form of punishment that we reject absolutely.” He added that Berlin had hoped the Egyptian judiciary would act according to the law and not according to political criteria. Speaking on behalf of the tripartite presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bakir Izetbegovic said the purpose of the court's sentences was to “settle scores with political rivals and opponents.” Morsi's trial, he added, was “devoid of integrity”. Sheikh Youssef Al-Qaradawi, chairman of the International Federation of Muslim Ulema, and one of the defendants tried in absentia and sentenced to death, described the court ruling as valueless. Former Sudanese President Swar Al-Dahab warned of the dangers posed by the sentences. “The actions taken by the Egyptian judiciary against President Mohamed Morsi and his colleagues will not help restore stability to Egypt. Verdicts such as these, which convince neither local nor international public opinion, only court more chaos. I expect the sentences will be frozen since to carry them out will deliver a debilitating blow to the security of the region.” Ennahda head Sheikh Rashed Al-Ghanoush appealed to Saudi Arabia's King Salman to press for reconciliation between the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt's military establishment. “I believe that that Saudi monarch is in a good position to promote mediation efforts in Egypt. His word is heeded. If he intervened it would almost certainly quell this fire. If upheld, the rulings against the Muslim Brotherhood will have repercussions throughout the region. The Brotherhood is not restricted to Egypt but exists across the Arab and Islamic world.” The State Information Service launched a staunch defence of the court's decision, denouncing foreign criticisms of the sentences which it claimed were based on “ignorance and inaccuracies”. Most Egyptian commentators say it is premature to predict the fate of Morsi and his co-defendants. They expect the picture to become clearer on 2 June when a final verdict is issued. The decision to refer the cases to the Mufti, argue some, is an attempt to gauge international reaction to the sentences.
