BERLIN
The German government opposed the death penalty under all circumstances, the country's spokesman Steffen Seibert said at a press conference in Berlin on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi was sentenced on charges of espionage as well as on charges related to a mass jailbreak incident in 2011 during demonstrations that removed then Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak. Apart from the death penalty, Morsi was also given a life sentence.
"We do not see this sentence as compatible with human dignity. We are in favor of its abolition worldwide," Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said.
Seibert said Germany had noted the court's decision "bewilderedly".
The German government hopes the removal of the sentence imposed on former President Morsi, he added.
Earlier, Germany’s Foreign Ministry criticized “inhumane” death sentences handed down to Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders.
The ministry on Wednesday urged the Egyptian judiciary to comply with international standards and guarantee an impartial trial.
"There should not be a political conviction," the ministry said.
The Egyptian court had also sentenced five Muslim Brotherhood leaders, including the group’s head, Mohamed Badie, to death for participating in the jailbreak.
Ninety-four other co-defendants were also sentenced to the gallows, in absentia, on similar charges, including prominent Muslim scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
Morsi was ousted by the military in a 2013 coup – after only one year in office – following protests against his presidency.
Since Morsi's removal, the Egyptian authorities have launched a crackdown on dissent that has largely targeted Morsi supporters, leaving hundreds dead and thousands behind bars.
