Ruling on Morsi Death Sentence Delayed

Egypt postponed the decision on a death sentence for Muhamed Morsi, the country's first democratically elected president, as the government arrested two other leaders of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

Reuters reports that the ruling on the death sentence, which was scheduled for June 2, has been postponed until June 16.

All death sentences in Egypt have to be approved by the country's highest religious authority, Grand Mufti Shawki Allam. The court that postponed the final decision on Morsi's fate said it had already received the Mufti's decision but needed time to discuss it.

The Mufti's opinion on the matter does not carry any legal weight, making the court's decision to defer judgement intriguing. That intrigue stems from that fact that ever since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi illegally seized power in a coup, the Egyptian government has arrested thousands, handed down numerous mass death sentences, and killed hundreds of protesters of all stripes.

This repression has set off an insurgency in the country, with most of the violence concentrated in the Sinai Peninsula bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip. Police and members of the army are regularly targeted by gunfire and bombings. The judiciary is also a popular target.

Just hours after Morsi's death sentence was announced, a number of judges were killed in shootings.

Although the violence is most heavily concentrated in the Sinai, bombings and shootings have been reported even in Cairo, the heart of the Sisi dictatorship.

Perhaps fearing that a confirmation of Morsi's death sentence would trigger more violence, a different Reuters report notes that two leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood were arrested a day before the verdict was originally scheduled to be announced.