ANKARA
A Turkish nongovernmental organization has strongly criticized the reaction of Western governments in the aftermath of death sentences given to Egypt’s first democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders.
In a statement released Tuesday, the Union of Academicians and Authors of Muslim World (AY-BIR) said: “We are witnessing with great regret and sorrow the silence and hypocrisy of Western governments and so-called human rights activists, and their proponents and also the indifference of numerous governments in the Islamic world, which hints at their approval for these disgraceful acts."
The organization called on governments and scholars to prevent such acts. "Otherwise these organizations will also be remembered as partners of these murders," it said.
The Union of Academicians and Authors of Muslim World (AY-BIR) is a Turkish union gathering academics and authors from all over the world.
The members of the union develop projects together, while the union provides assistance and professional solidarity to its members. It also follows developments in Islamic countries and contributes to finding possible solutions to problems in these countries.
Last week, former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi was sentenced on charges of espionage as well as on those 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.
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 Egyptian scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
Morsi was removed from office in a 2013 military coup -- after only one year in office -- following protests against his presidency.
Since Morsi's ouster, Egyptian authorities have launched a relentless crackdown on dissent that has largely targeted Morsi supporters, leaving hundreds dead and thousands behind bars.
In August 2014, an Egyptian court officially dissolved the Freedom and Justice Party on grounds of its association with Muslim Brotherhood.
