Specter of death penalty haunts Egypt’s Brotherhood
An Egyptian court issued the first death sentence against a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Sheikh Fadl al-Mawla, in what some fear will be a precedent for the regime.
Egypt's highest court for the first time has upheld the death penalty against a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, prompting fears that it won't be the last time.
The Court of Cassation ruling April 24 prompted objections from human rights groups and politicians.
Since July 2013, when current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi led a coup to overthrow then-President Mohammed Morsi, the only related death sentences upheld have been against individuals alleged to have belonged to jihadi movements — but not against actual members of Morsi's Sunni Islamist organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, or even against Morsi himself.
In this context, the final ruling issued against Sheikh Fadl al-Mawla, an Islamist cleric accused of killing a taxi driver during the Rabaa Al-Adawiya sit-in strike in 2013, has prompted many people to ask the most important question to be raised in four years: Will the regime officially carry out death sentences issued against the Brotherhood's members?
