Former Egyptian investment minister warns against execution of Morsi

Former Egyptian investment minister Yehia Hamed warned on Wednesday against the execution of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, after rumours of the Morsi’s execution circulated last week.

Since the death of Egypt’s chief prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, when a bomb blast hit his car on 29 June, observers have anticipated an imminent execution of Mosri, potentially on the first day of Eid or the 18 July.  

In an exclusive interview with Arabic news website Arabi21, Hamed said that the repercussions Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi would face in the case that he upholds a death sentence handed down to Morsi by an Egyptian court on 16 June  for plotting jailbreaks and attacks on police during the country's 2011 uprisings, would be tremendous.

“If Sisi carries out the execution, an earthquake will break out across the whole region,” said Hamed rhetorically, referring to the strong reaction he expects the death of Morsi would potentially elicit.

“If Sisi believes that by executing Moris he will gain legitimacy, then he is deluded.”

“Enacting the death sentence handed down to Morsi will become a curse upon him and his whole regime,” he added.

Hamed went on to call upon leaders of the Gulf and other regional countries to speak out against Morsi’s death sentence.

“I direct my message to the Gulf countries, and specifically to Saudi Arabia.”

“Your silence is not acceptable and cannot be understood in any way other than to signal consent with regards to the execution of Morsi,” he added.

Twenty-seven other defendants were sentenced to death on the same day as Morsi including Mohamed Badie, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood group; Mohamed Katatny, former head of the parliament; and Brotherhood leaders Khairat Shater, Mohamed Beltagy and Mohamed Abdel Aati.