Egyptian dissident speaks out on Morsi death sentence

ISTANBUL

A prominent Egyptian opposition politician has warned that the execution of ousted president Mohamed Morsi would be current leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s most severe step in his political life.

Ayman Nour, a former member of parliament and founder of the liberal el-Ghad party, moved to Lebanon following Morsi's overthrow in an army coup in 2013.

Nour, who wishes to return to Egypt, left Lebanon on Tuesday and headed to Turkey as a preamble to travelling to Europe after he claimed to receive information that his life is in danger.

In an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency on Thursday, Ayman Nour said that “Sisi is trying to negatively influence public opinion to perform executions; however, no matter how he is able to do so, it will not match the severity of Morsi's execution."

Morsi was recently sentenced to death by an Egyptian court, over a 2011 jailbreak.

Nour explained that he cannot predict decisions Sisi may make, accusing the Egyptian leader of being “an amateur in politics”.

“[Sisi] lacks experience, wisdom and vision as well as committing collective mistakes without advisors and all the men around him are [from] former intelligence factions,” Nour said.

According to Nour, Egypt’s current regime has no vision to provide solutions for the country, however it uses the escalated violence to maintain its existence, citing its role in fighting terrorism.

Nour says that Sisi has lost all his allies on many levels, including local liberals, and regionally “has only Israel that supports him while his other Gulf allies – especially Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – are not supporting him as before."

On the international level “Sisi became a part of the crisis in Egypt, not a solution” because of his poor legal record as he committed “massacres,” Nour states.

In response to a question if there is coordination between Nour and the Muslim Brotherhood, he said that “the Muslim Brotherhood is a part of Egypt’s political life and there is respect, coordination, consistency on returning democracy and reviving political life that Sisi killed."

The Muslim Brotherhood – which Mohamed Morsi belongs to - is a political movement and organization established in Egypt in 1928 by Islamic scholar Hassan el-Banna.

“Maybe the Muslim Brotherhood did not do their work as demanded during Morsi’s period; however, in the end, they are the biggest political movement in Egypt and there is no solution without them,” Nour said.

He also claimed that the issue in Egypt is not between liberals and political Islam, adding that there are pro-Sisi Islamic politicians (a reference to al-Nour party).

The issue is, he says, either to be with or against the revolution of January 25 ,2014 or to be with or against the counter revolution.

He also exonerated the Muslim Brotherhood of “bloodshed” charges imposed by Egyptian courts since the military ousted Mohamed Morsi.