Turkey plans to initiate steps to invoke mechanisms at international organizations with regard to the death penalty sentence of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, Turkey’s presidential spokesman said late Monday.
“Our consultations with Qatar and with the other Persian Gulf countries, particularly with Saudi Arabia continue .. We are also reviewing now the existing mechanisms at international organizations,” said Ibrahim Kalin at a press conference, World Bulletin reported.
He said Turkey will be in contact with a number of international organizations, particularly with the UN Commission on Human Rights.
On Saturday, an Egyptian court referred 122 out of 166 defendants -- including Morsi -- to the grand mufti to consider possible death sentences against them over charges of jail-breaking and espionage.
“It is crucial for these decisions to be explicitly rejected by the international organization and institutions,” said Kalin, adding that it is “unacceptable” for the countries --that always defend democracy--to keep silent in the face of the “law massacre” and “democratic tragedy” in Egypt.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan previously had called on the West to take a stance against the Cairo court’s decision and criticized their silence over the issue.
Meanwhile, the UK and Germany added their voices to the international condemnation of Morsi’s death sentence.
“The German government opposes the death penalty in principle, under all circumstances,” Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said at a press conference in Berlin on Monday. He added that there were “doubts” over the fairness of the trial and promised to raise recent death sentences and the human rights situation with Egyptian leaders.
Tobias Ellwood, a junior British foreign minister, also said his government was “deeply concerned” by the sentences.
