NEW YORK
The New York-based Human Rights Watch called on the Egyptian government to stop executions after a court sentenced Egypt’s first democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi to death.
Human Rights Watch said in a statement Tuesday: "Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all cases and has called on the Egyptian government to halt executions."
Since Morsi’s removal from office, Egyptian authorities have executed seven people for allegedly committing violent crimes against the new government or its supporters, and sentenced about 600 people to death, according to the statement.
"The cases that resulted in former President Mohamed Morsi and 114 others receiving death sentences on June 16, 2015, were compromised by due process violations and appear to have been politically motivated. The convictions are based almost entirely on security officials’ testimony," the statement said.
It also said: "A Human Rights Watch review of prosecution case file summaries found little evidence other than the testimony of military and police officers to support the convictions of Morsi and 130 others for a 2011 prison break, and of Morsi and 35 others for conspiring with foreign powers against the state."
The HRW said the full written judgments have not yet been made public.
“These prosecutions show that Egyptian courts are ready to sentence the government’s opponents to death with barely any regard for due process,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW Middle East and North Africa director.
Whitson added: “They follow in a line of flawed mass prosecutions brought against the members of the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Meanwhile, a group of U.S citizens of Egyptian origin held protest in New York’s Times Square. They chanted slogans against Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi like "Freedom to Morsi", "Sisi killer", and "We want justice."
An Egyptian court on Tuesday sentenced former President Mohamed Morsi to death for jailbreak charges. The court also sentenced five leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, including top leader Mohamed Badie, to death on charges of taking part in a mass jailbreak in 2011.
Nearly 100 others were sentenced -- in absentia -- to the gallows, including prominent Muslim scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
The same court earlier on Tuesday sentenced Morsi and 16 co-defendants to life in prison on charges of conspiring with the Palestinian group Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to carry out “terrorist acts” in Egypt. The court also sentenced 16 defendants to death on similar charges.
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