The Egyptian government has fired back at critics of the death sentence issued against former president Mohamed Morsi on Saturday, literally telling critics to mind their own affairs.
Morsi, along with 105, many of whom are Palestinians, were sentenced to death over charges of the murder of policemen and the kidnapping of others upon his escape with fellows at the Muslim Brotherhood from prison during the 2011 uprising.
The verdict drew criticism from Turkey, Morsi’s major ally, as well as from Amnesty International and the United States which voiced “deep concern” as put by a State Department official quoted by Reuters.
In a statement on Sunday, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said it reiterates that “comments on decisions and verdicts by the Egyptian judiciary are inappropriate”. It labelled criticisms of domestic judicial verdicts as “unacceptable intervention” in the works of the judicial service which, as the statement put it, “enjoys the utmost respect and appreciation by all classes of the Egyptian people”.
The ministry said it was “astonished” that critics of the trial failed to denounce the assassination of three judges in Arish, North Sinai, hours after the verdict was delivered.
The statement said opponents to the sentences should “mind their own business rather than intervene with the domestic affairs of other countries”.
The ministry said countries condemning the sentences against Morsi and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders are, themselves, witnessing “flagrant violations of the simplest rules of democracy and human rights”, adding that those countries impose restrictions on journalists and social media, seemingly hinting to Turkey, while others are “suffering various forms of racism against their citizens”, a veiled reference to the US.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
