France maintains silence on Morsi death sentence

A French government official has refused to comment on the Egyptian court’s decision to sentence to death Egypt’s first democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi.

“We cannot comment a decision given by the Egyptian justice [system],” Stephane Le Foll, the French government’s spokesman told reporters on Wednesday following the weekly government meeting.

Separately, the French Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Romain Nadal did say in a statement: “We noted the decision. France recalls once more that it stands against the death penalty.”

An Egyptian court on Tuesday sentenced former President Mohamed Morsi to death on jailbreak charges. The court also sentenced five leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, including top leader Mohamed Badie, to death on charges of taking part in a mass jailbreak in 2011.

Nearly 100 others were sentenced – in absentia – to the gallows, including prominent Muslim scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

The same court earlier on Tuesday sentenced Morsi and 16 co-defendants to life in prison on charges of conspiring with the Palestinian group Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to carry out “terrorist acts” in Egypt. The court also sentenced 16 defendants to death on similar charges.

source: world bulletin