Turkey deplores Morsi jail sentence in Egypt

Turkey has deplored the sentencing of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and others to 20 years in jail by an Egyptian court on violence-related charges.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued its statement on Wednesday, a day after Morsi was jailed for inciting the murder of opposition protesters three years ago outside the Ittihadiya presidential palace – the first conviction against the Islamist president since his ouster by the army in mid-2013.

The ministry said in a statement: “Arbitrary trials disregarding international standards, carried out since the military coup against a certain segment of the Egyptian people, increase suspicions concerning the objectivity of the verdict against former President Morsi and aggravate concerns about the future of democracy in Egypt.”

The ministry said Turkey’s sincere calls towards addressing the Egyptian people’s legitimate demands for a genuine democracy and the rule of law were still valid.