SPEAKING UP

Watchdog: Morsi Trial ‘Badly Flawed’

Politically motivated.

Human Rights Watch has declared that the trial and sentencing of former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was “badly flawed” and likely politically motivated. Morsi has been sentenced to 20 years in jail along with 12 other members of the Muslim Brotherhood for the violence, kidnapping, torture, and death of protesters in 2012. Morsi was deposed by the army in mid-2013, and the then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took power. According to Human Rights Watch, Morsi was jailed for weeks without charges, and the trial relied mostly on testimony from the military and police. According to the human rights organization, Morsi’s defense team was only allowed to visit him once.