White House condemns death sentence for Morsi
, Source
Ousted Egyptian President, Mohamed Morsi reacts inside defendants cage in the courtroom as the judge is reading a verdict against him in Cairo, Egypt, on Tuesday.
(Photo: ALI MALKI / ALMASRY ALYOUM, EPA)
The White House is criticizing Egypt's military-run government over the death sentence facing former President Mohamed Morsi.
"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 Tuesday.
President Obama's spokesman said "the United States has repeatedly raised concerns about the detention and sentencing of a variety of political figures in Egypt," including Morsi.
"We are concerned that proceedings have been conducted in a way that is not only contrary to universal values but also damaging to stability that all Egyptians deserve," Earnest said.
From the wire service AFP:
"An Egyptian court upheld Tuesday a death sentence against ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi for plotting jailbreaks and attacks on police during the country's 2011 uprising.
"It also sentenced Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, to life in prison on charges of spying for the Palestinian Hamas movement, Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah and Iran. ...
"Then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Morsi in 2013 after mass protests calling for an end to his divisive one-year rule."