America is “greatly worried” about an Egyptian court decision to find the death penalty for former President Mohamed Mursi, a State Department official said on Sunday.
The ruling against Mursi is not final until June 2. All capital sentences are referred to get a non-binding opinion, to the top religious authority, the Grand Mufti in Egypt, and therefore are also subject to legal appeal.
“We’re profoundly worried by still another mass death sentence handed down by an Egyptian court to over 100 defendants, including former President Mursi,” the State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“We’ve consistently spoken out against the practice of mass trials and sentences, which are conducted in a fashion which is inconsistent with Egypt’s international obligations and the rule of law,” he said. The official, noted, however, that Saturday’s death sentence opinion was “preliminary.”
Mursi and his fellow defendants were convicted on charges of kidnapping and killing officers, assaulting cops facilities and breaking through the uprising.
Mursi, who became Egypt’s first freely elected president in the year 2012 after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in a popular rebellion, has said the court is not valid, describing proceeding against him as part of a coup by former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in 2013.
Relationships cooled after Mursi was overthrown by the military almost two years ago, but ties his successor, with Sisi, have steadily improved.
In late March, U.S. President Barack Obama lifted a hold on a supply of arms to Cairo, authorizing deliveries of U.S. weapons valued at over $1.3 billion.