The death of Morsi: The Brotherhood lose the last bet

Shaima Hafezi

The death of the deposed president Mohammed Morsi came to put an end to false hopes promoted by members of the Muslim Brotherhood over six years of his trial on charges of conspiracy that he would leave prison and return to power.

The death of Morsi came during his trial on Monday, June 17, 2019, after the adjournment of his trial in the case of espionage; where he suffered a fainting and died.

It is noteworthy that the isolated president, born in August 1951, and his full name, Mohammed Mohamed Morsi Issa Al Ayat, assumed the presidency of Egypt in the first presidential elections after the revolution of January 2011, representing the Brotherhood. The people revolted the group and ousted Morsi from power in 2013 after one year of the rule of the extremist group.

He was also charged and tried in several cases of conspiracy with Hamas and Qatar, breaking into prisons and killing protesters. He was sentenced to death and sentenced to prison.

The Death of the “Brotherhood Symbol”

Morsi was charged along with 23 other Brotherhood leaders in the well-known case of “espionage with Hamas” and disclosing the secrets of defending the country to a foreign state and those working for its interests before the Cairo Criminal Court.

Dr. Amr Hashim, an expert at the Al-Ahram Center for Strategic and Political Studies, said: “The death of the ousted president will lead to a kind of deep frustration among the group, which has relied on its cohesion in the court and its adherence to what they call legitimacy.

Hisham al-Najjar, a researcher on political Islam, said: “The Brotherhood has continued to exploit Mohammed Morsi who was alive in gaining sympathy, especially during the last period, when the Egyptian internal affairs were out of discussion about the existence of the group on the ground.

“This is one station from the recruitment stations of Mohamed Morsi, who was just an instrument in the group, to re-collect its allies, under the oppressive conditions it is living.”

The researcher points to the Brotherhood’s tendency towards politicizing the event, which has been done since the 1950s, and is also reflected in the media coverage of the Brotherhood and the statements of the current actors, who are considered sponsors in Turkey, Tunisia and Qatar.

According to Al-Najjar, the group is now seeking to question the nature of death through human rights organizations and its affiliated organizations. The event will be exploited in the Egyptian state, relying on international platforms, especially in light of the imprisonment of its leaders in Egypt and the return of the group to the Egyptian political street.

The effects of the event across social media

Maj. Gen. Mohammad Sadiq, former interior minister assistant, said that the reaction of the members of the group would be negative but would not be dangerous. He said that they may be questioning the nature of the death, but God loves this country. If he had died in his prison, they would have accused the state of killing him.

According to Sadiq, members will be frustrated, and will have a negative reaction. This reaction, he added, will not go beyond making posts on social networking sites.

It is noteworthy that the group links the deaths of leaders with escalating reactions, but as a result of the decline in popularity over the past years, the Brotherhood resorted to violence.

In the same context, Dr. Hashim said, “The Brotherhood under Mubarak has not practiced violence but is now exercising it a lot, although the intensity of the operations has decreased recently, but it can not be determined to end.”

Years of trial

Over the past six years, the Brotherhood had hoped that the president would be released from prison despite criminal charges against him, and a number of judicial rulings that supported some of them, while others were revoked by the Court of Cassation.

In October 2017, the Court of Cassation rejected the appeal of Morsi, Brotherhood leaders Mohamed El-Beltagy, Issam El-Erian and six others to sentences of between 10 and 20 years in the case known as the Federal Palace events.

By virtue of the Court of Cassation, the sentence issued by the Cairo Criminal Court in the case of the imprisonment of the former president for 20 years becomes final and can not be challenged.

In September 2017, the Court of Cassation, headed by Counselor Hamdi Abul-Khair, issued a final ruling approving three death sentences for hanging three members of the Muslim Brotherhood, supporting life imprisonment for President Mohamed Mursi and revoking his 15-year prison sentence.

On December 30, 2017, the Cairo Criminal Court, headed by Judge Hammada Shukri, sentenced former president Mohamed Morsi and 17 others to three years in prison for insulting the judiciary and insulting its men and harassing them with the intention of spreading hatred.