ANKARA
The U.K. and Germany have added their voices to the international condemnation of the death sentence passed on former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi over the weekend.
"[The] German government opposes the death penalty in principle, under all circumstances," Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said at a regular press conference in Berlin on Monday.
"We do not believe that death penalty can contribute to stability anywhere in the world."
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.
On Saturday, a court sentenced Morsi and more than 100 Muslim Brotherhood supporters to death in connection with a mass jail break in 2011.
Tobias Ellwood, a junior British foreign minister, said his government was "deeply concerned" by the sentences.
In a statement issued Sunday, he added: "We look to the Egyptian authorities to apply the rule of law consistently in line with international standards and to protect the political and legal rights of all Egyptians as the basis for the country’s future stability."
The Istanbul-based International Rabaa Platform on Monday also condemned the decision.
Coordinator Cihangir Isbilir said the sentences threatened "all the elected governments and leaders in the region".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the U.S. and the UN also expressed concerns over the decisions.
The sentences have been referred to the grand mufti, Egypt’s highest religious authority, for a non-binding opinion. They are also subject to appeal and most death sentences are commuted to lengthy prison terms.
Cairo said it rejected all "inappropriate comments" on the rulings, labeling them interference in Egypt's internal affairs.
Last month, Morsi and 12 co-defendants were sentenced to 20 years in prison for organizing attacks on protesters outside the presidential palace in December 2012.
Morsi, who became Egypt’s first freely elected president in 2012 after the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak, has said the cases against him are part of a coup by former army chief Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, who took over as president in 2013.
