Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood demands halt on execution of its 12 members

By Ibrahim al-Khazen

ISTANBUL (AA) – The Muslim Brotherhood has urged the Egyptian authorities to halt implementing death penalties for 12 of its members and leaders.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Muslim Brotherhood described the ruling by Egypt’s highest civilian court upholding death sentences for 12 of its members as “retaliatory”.

The group said the move will not deter it from its path and work.

The court on Monday upheld the sentence in the case known as "Rabaa sit-in dispersal."

The convicted leaders included Mohamed al-Beltagy, Safwat Hegazy, Abdel-Rahman el-Bar, Osama Yassin (former Egyptian minister), and Ahmed Aref.

The Muslim Brotherhood has urged the world and rights institutions to stand against these verdicts.

The Egyptian authorities are yet to comment on the verdict.

On Aug. 14, 2013, the army and police forces dispersed two sit-in protests of supporters of the late Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo, according to local reports.

According to Egypt’s official National Council for Human Rights, 632 people were killed, including 8 police officers, when security forces violently dispersed the pro-Morsi protests in Rabaa al-Adawiya and Giza's al-Nahda squares. The international rights groups, however, say the number of deaths was much bigger.

Security forces also detained thousands of Morsi supporters in an attempt to quell the unrest that followed the 2013 military coup.

*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara