Cairo, May 26 (IANS) The Egyptian foreign ministry on Tuesday summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires to inform him of Cairo’s rejection of Islamabad’s criticism of death sentence delivered upon former president Mohammed Morsi earlier this month.
Egyptian state-run MENA news agency reported that the foreign ministry stressed that the Pakistani official statements are considered interference in Egypt’s domestic affairs and implies unacceptable comments on the Egyptian regime which is fully independent.
Such interference shadows on bilateral relations, the ministry said, according to Xinhua.
The Egyptian embassy in Islamabad conveyed the same message to the Pakistani side explaining rejection of the statement.
On May 19, Pakistan expressed “considerable concern” over an Egyptian death sentence for Morsi and his supporters.
The Cairo Criminal Court on May 16 issued a preliminary death sentence against Morsi and 105 other defendants in a 2011 jailbreak case, making his the first Egyptian president who has ever faced a death verdict.
Morsi was ousted by the army in July 2013 after mass protests against his one-year rule. Since then, Morsi faced a number of charges including inciting violence, conspiring with foreign powers, killing protesters, some of which carry the death penalty.
Egyptian authorities branded the Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi’s power base, as a terrorist organisation in 2014.