Reuters is reporting that Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi has condemned the death sentence passed this week against deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and 105 others including Qaradawi himself in absentia. The report begins:
May 18 DOHA Senior Muslim cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi has condemned death sentences passed on himself, former Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi and 105 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood group over a mass jail break in 2011.
In a video statement posted on Qaradawi’s twitter account on Sunday, the elderly Qatar-based cleric who is also a spiritual leader for the Muslim Brotherhood said the rulings were ‘nonsense’ and violated Islamic law. ‘
These rulings have no value and cannot be implemented because they are against the rules of God, against the people’s law…no one will accept it,’ Qaradawi said in the statement, which was broadcast by Al Jazeera’s Arabic news channel in Qatar.”
Read the rest here.
The GMBDW reported on Sunday that an Egyptian court had sentenced deposed Dr. Morsi to death in connection with a 2011 prison break out involving hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members. That report also noted the reactions of Hamas and Turkish President President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while another post discussed a statement by the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID).
In April, the GMBDW reported that Qaradawi had criticized the prison sentence imposed by Egypt on Dr. Morsi. In January, we reported that Egypt had seized Qaradawi’s assets. In December 2013, the GMBDW was the first Western media to report that the international police agency INTERPOL had issued a “Red Notice” for Youssef Qaradawi which states that Qaradawi was “wanted by the judicial authorities of Egypt for prosecution / to serve a sentence.”
Youssef Qaradawi is the most important leader of the Global Muslim Brotherhood and is the de facto spiritual leader of the movement.
For a profile of Youssef Qaradawi, go here.
