PRESS RELEASE: Open Letter to Governments regarding the Death Sentences Passed by the Military Regime in Egypt

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to you today to make a direct request that your government intercede with the Egyptian regime to reverse the death sentence handed out to political dissidents, including Dr Badi’, the Head of the Muslim Brotherhood. That western governments chose to remain silent in the face of farcical trials, (that violate the most basic tenets of an independent judiciary) where peaceful dissidents, who upheld democratic values are being sentenced to life imprisonment and death sentences by a military regime that eschews these values is deplorable. That they turned a blind eye to the rape, murder and torture (as unequivocally proven by western human rights organisations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch) of democracy activists for the sake of commerce and regional interest, is damning. However, that western governments remain silent when the military regime of General Sisi is clearly moving to eliminate the leadership of the largest political movement in Egypt via state murder is tantamount to serious political miscalculation on the part of western governments both in terms of the values they claim to uphold and in terms if their interests.
 

If Western governments remain silent in the face of the proposed state murder of  the Muslim Brotherhood leadership, then they will be sending a clear and unequivocal message to the 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide , that they are clearly on the side of the authoritarian state  that will not allow it’s citizens democracy. Such a message feeds into the very radicalisation that the West claims it fears and wants to defeat.
 

The very least that your government can do, for the sake of its own long term interest and regional stability, is to stand true to its own values of democracy and openly, publicly and in the strongest language condemn this abuse of power in the politically motivated trials and the role of the judiciary in legitimising this abuse of power.
 

On behalf of the ERC, I ask you to reject the narrative of the Sisi regime and publicly condemn the death sentence handed to Dr Badi’ and the Muslim Brotherhood leadership by the Egyptian military, for no reason other than that they hoped to see in Egypt a democratic system of government that can coexist with their faith.
 

I sincerely hope your government takes decisive steps against this flagrant abuse of justice in Egypt and that it does not send a message of approval through its silence to all those struggling for freedom and rights in Egypt and elsewhere.
 

Yours sincerely,

Maha Azzam,

Head | Egyptian Revolutionary Council