Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Mursi has been jailed for 20 years without parole
ADVERTISEMENTHe was Egypt’s first democratically elected president, but now he has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Mursi has been jailed without parole on charges arising from the killing of protesters.
Mursi was in the dock with 12 other Brotherhood members, three years after winning elections. He was ousted after mass protests against his rule.
Mohammed Abdel Wahab, a lawyer for the victims, told reporters: “This ruling is convincing for me. But finding the accused innocent on charges of incitement to murder and participating in the killing of victims, such as the journalist Abu Deif and others, does not satisfy the representatives of the victims and their families.”
Demonstrations broke out at the end of 2012 after Mursi issued a decree that said that presidential powers would be extended.
The president and his aides denied accusations of being responsible for the deaths of 10 protesters.
Some of those sentenced alongside Mursi say they will appeal.
Amnesty International has slammed the ruling as a “travesty of justice”, claiming Egypt’s justice system is neither independent nor impartial.
But the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi – the former army chief who is accused by Mursi of carrying out a coup against him in 2013 – maintains the judiciary is independent.
Euronews’ correspondent in Cairo, Mohammed Shaikhibrahim, reported: “Today’s decision resolves a lot of speculation about the likelihood of a death sentence for the former president, a punishment imposed on other leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. But this possibility still exists regarding other charges still to be decided in the coming months.”