International Shia News Agency

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Calls Morsi Verdict Biased

SHAFAQNA – The 20-year jail sentence handed to ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi on Tuesday after he was found guilty of kidnapping, torturing and killing demonstrators in 2012 was biased, says a spokesperson in exile. “He doesn’t care with the court. He’s always saying he’s not recognising this court, this court is not a legitimate court, and all this accusations against the legitimate president is illegitimate accusations and charges,” Mohammad Soudan, a spokesperson for Morsi’s re-named Freedom & Justice party in Leeds, UK, told RFI.

Morsi’s lawyers reportedly said they would appeal the verdict. He was acquitted of murder but sentenced for abuses against protesters, including kidnapping and torture.

Morsi was removed by the Egyptian military in 2013 and replaced by President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the current leader of Egypt.

But while the Egyptian judiciary has been accused of political bias, Timothy Kaldas, a non-resident fellow of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy in Cairo says that judges made sure this trial had some semblance of legitimacy amidst all the reported blunders in the investigation.

“There is a valid concern there and there’s a desire to hold people accountable for those crimes but simultaneously there is a clear double standard in the way that other crimes had been pursued of this nature against protesters by the current regime, as well as the government under Mubarak,” says Kaldas.

Source : http://allafrica.com/

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