Turkish lawmaker: Egypt should 'reverse death sentences' on Muslim Brotherhood members

A longtime Turkish lawmaker on Tuesday appealed to Egypt to reverse the death sentences handed down to Muslim Brotherhood members, Anadolu Agency reported.

“The implementation of these death sentences will deal a major blow to Egypt’s damaged reputation in the international arena,” Mustafa Yeneroglu, an Istanbul deputy of the Democracy and Progress (DEVA) Party, told reporters.

“It will deal another huge blow to social peace. It will cause irreversible and irreparable wounds in the public conscience. This wrong decision must be reversed as soon as possible.”

Yeneroglu added that Muslim Brotherhood leaders and members were convicted in show trials.

Turkey and Egypt should open a new chapter in bilateral relations, he urged.

READ: Egypt delegation to travel to Turkey for follow up talks

Turkey should work against the death sentences along with the Council of Europe, European Union, and UN, he said.

On June 14, Egypt’s highest civilian court upheld the death sentences of 12 Muslim Brotherhood members, including senior leaders Mohamed al-Beltagy, Safwat Hegazy, Abdel-Rahman el-Bar, Osama Yassin (former Egyptian minister), and Ahmed Aref.

In August 2013, the army and police dispersed protests in Cairo by supporters of President Mohamed Morsi, who was deposed that July and in 2019 collapsed in a courtroom and died.

According to Egypt’s official National Council for Human Rights, 632 people were killed, including eight police officers, when security forces violently dispersed the pro-Morsi protests in Rabaa al-Adawiya and Giza’s al-Nahda squares.

International human rights groups, however, say the number of deaths was much larger.

Egypt backs Greece against attempt to breach its sovereignty, insists president