An Internet news portal is reporting that Egypt’s top religious authority has rejected a death sentence for Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie. According to a Today Online report:
Mohamed Badie
August 7, 2014 Cairo, Egypt’s top religious authority has rejected a death sentence proposed for the leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and 13 associates for murder and violence, but was asked by a court on Thursday to reconsider.
Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood’s general guide, and the other defendants were sentenced on June 19, but Egyptian law requires any capital sentence to be referred to Grand Mufti Shawqi Allam, Egypt’s highest Islamic legal official, for an opinion before any execution can take place.
The Mufti’s reports are not normally made public, but one of the three judges in the case said the Mufti had stated that ‘the investigations and evidence were not enough to carry out the death sentence’.
In a move unprecedented in the history of Egyptian law, the court asked the Mufti to reconsider and adjourned the hearing, in which it was due to either uphold or strike down the original sentence, until Aug. 30.
‘The Mufti did not give a religious opinion but interfered in the court’s domain by evaluating the evidence of the case,’ the judge said.
While many Egyptians have welcomed the army’s toppling of elected Islamist president Mohamed Mursi just over a year ago, there is growing unease at the scale and severity of a crackdown on his now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.”
GMBDW reporting on the various charges facing Dr. Badie has included:
We reported in July on the life sentence received by Dr. Badie in a separate case first reported in June.
The GMBDW reported in April that an Egyptian court had recommended the death sentence for Dr. Badie and 682 Brotherhood supporters in connection with the Minya case.
The GMBDW reported in March on the first mass sentencing involving clashes which erupted in the southern province of Minya.
In August 2013, we reported on the arrest of Dr. Badie.
In July 2010, we reported on the election of Dr. Badie as the new Supreme Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.
For details on the life and thought of Dr. Badie, go here.
