WASHINGTON
The U.S. is "deeply troubled" by the death sentences issued against Egypt’s former president Mohamed Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood leaders and supporters, the White House said Tuesday.
"We are deeply troubled by the politically motivated sentences that have been handed down against former President Morsi and several others by an Egyptian court today," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. "We are concerned that the proceedings have been conducted in a way that is not only contrary to universal values, but also damaging to the stability that all Egyptians deserve."
Earnest called the decision "unjust" and undermining "confidence in the rule of law in Egypt", while the U.S. State Department said Washington was in close contact with Egyptian authorities.
An Egyptian court on Tuesday sentenced former President Mohamed Morsi to death over jailbreak charges. The court also sentenced five leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, including top leader Mohamed Badie, to death on charges of taking part in a mass jailbreak in 2011.
Nearly 100 others were sentenced -- in absentia -- to the gallows, including prominent Muslim scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, too, expressed concern over the decision, urging Egypt to impose a moratorium on the death penalty.
“The Secretary-General is concerned that such verdicts, handed down after mass trials, may well have a negative impact on the prospects for long-term stability in Egypt,” a UN statement said.
The U.K. government revealed concern about the decision through a Foreign Office statement Tuesday.
“The UK Government is deeply concerned by the sentencing to death of former President Morsi and over 100 others," said the statement.
Meanwhile, the human rights group Amnesty International called the decision “another symptom of how horrendously broken Egypt’s justice system has become.”
"This is nothing more than a vengeful march to the gallows. These entire legal proceedings have been a mockery of justice and the death sentences must be thrown out," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.
"Mohamed Morsi and his aides must be released or retried in civilian court in line with Egyptian law and international fair trial standards without recourse to death penalty,” he added.
The French Human Rights League (LdH) slammed Egypt's trials for being unfair and said: "Everyone is entitled to a fair trial and the various trials underway in Egypt, whether they concern the Muslim Brotherhood or the democrats, do not have anything fair and are therefore not acceptable, let alone when there are death sentences."
