12 senior Muslim Brother officials may face execution as Egypt’s civilian court upholds death sentence

Taking a strong stance against regional terrorism or extremism, Egypt’s highest civilian court has ordered to upheld the decision of death sentence for 12 Muslim Brotherhood officials on Monday. 

The Muslim Brotherhood is among the prime faces of terrorism in the region having its contacts and bases in Lebanon and Iran. It is heavily funded by Iranians and countries like Turkey and Qatar also have a strong hand in extending financial support and safe heavens to the dangerous group. 

The decision has come in an eight-year-old matter where the Muslim Brotherhood militants were responsible for killing hundreds of security force officials protestors as well civilians. The 2013 incident has made Egypt take very strong calls on terrorism and this statement, which essentially stresses execution ordered for these 12 convicts, is a testament of the same. 

The ruling by the top court cannot be appealed anymore and the executive orders just need the approval of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. One of the major faces or names in the list of convicts includes Abdul Rahman Al-Bar, who can be identified as the religious scholar of the group. 

Other than him, a former parliamentarian--Mohamed El-Beltagi--is also deemed as a convict in the case. The court's decision has not come as a surprise to many as earlier too, Muslim Brotherhood figures were sentenced to death for causing unrest in the region or dissemination violence or extremist mentality in the country. 

The threat of terrorism excessively increased after 2013 when the president of the extremist group Mohamed Mursi was ousted by the Egyptian military as political leaders were afraid that revenge mindset might prevail. 

Cairo has made many changes in this aspect and that has resulted in an increase in executive orders. Rights groups believe that it threatens legal procedures and human rights. A report by Amnesty International shows that there have been 51 executions in Egypt this year alone. 

To anyone aware of legal rights and matters, this number will come as a huge shock. Rights groups force the Egyptian administration to take steps towards establishing an official moratorium on execution and not carry out vehement executions by handing over death sentences in every other case. 

The issue is much larger than what appears on the surface. The unjust practices when it comes to jail terms and death sentences is a wake-up call for the human rights activists. In 2018, a criminal court in Egypt had sentenced 75 people to death but all of them had varied timelines and further jail terms for 600 others were totally different. 

The concerns of the safety of the prisoners are also rising given the fact that a senior Muslim Brotherhood leader Essam el-Erin and Mursi, Egypt’s democratically elected president died in prison.