******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ********************
#1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
#2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived.
#3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern.
*****************************************************************
NY Times, May 16 2015
Egyptian Court Sentences Ousted President Morsi to Death
By JARED MALSIN
CAIRO — An Egyptian court sentenced Mohamed Morsi, the country’s deposed
president, to death on Saturday over his involvement in a prison break
during Egypt’s 2011 popular uprising.
Mr. Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was the country’s first
democratically elected president and came to power following the 2011
revolt that ended the three decades of autocratic rule of Hosni Mubarak.
After a divisive and chaotic year in office, Mr. Morsi was ousted from
power by the military in July 2013 following another wave of protests.
The jailbreak case was a sign of the sweeping reversal of Egypt’s
political tide since the 2011 uprising. The former head of state had
been detained in a revolution that many Egyptians hoped would bring
about an end to arbitrary detentions and other abuses by the security state.
Saturday’s ruling was read out in a courtroom in a converted auditorium
at a police academy on the edge of Cairo. Mr. Morsi, who was sentenced
along with more than 100 others, and a crowd of other defendants
appeared inside a glass and metal cage inside the courtroom. The judge
Shaaban el-Shami’s words triggered shouts from inside the cage, muffled
by the glass. As the session ended, the prisoners chanted “Down with
military rule!”
The escape came after Mr. Morsi and other Brotherhood officials had been
arrested either from their homes or during protests, along with
thousands of other Egyptians swept up in the unrest. Mr. Morsi had been
held for two days at Wadi Natroun Prison on the highway between Cairo
and Alexandria.
The prison break took place on the night of Jan. 28, 2011, following a
pivotal day of street battles during the revolution. In the chaos of the
uprising, some of the prison guards had already abandoned their posts.
Armed men overran the prison’s remaining guards, freeing thousands of
inmates, including Mr. Morsi and other Islamist leaders.
Among those sentenced to death on Saturday were some 70 Palestinians,
including many tried in absentia. Prosecutors alleged that armed
Palestinians freed inmates from Egyptian prisons after entering the
country via tunnels from the neighboring Gaza Strip.
Saturday’s ruling was the second against Mr. Morsi in less than a month.
In April, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of inciting
violence and overseeing the illegal detention and torture of protesters
while he was in office. That case centered on a deadly street brawl
between Brotherhood supporters and opponents outside a presidential
palace in Cairo in December 2012.
The former president faces separate trials over charges of leaking
sensitive documents, fraud in connection with a Brotherhood-backed
economic program, and insulting the judiciary.
Before they can be carried out, the death sentences must be approved by
Egypt’s top Sunni Muslim religious authority, the Grand Mufti, who is
scheduled to make a ruling on June 2nd. The convictions are also open to
appeal through the court system.
_________________________________________________________
Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm
Set your options at:
http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
