Sana Beltagy: Execution Sentences Vindictive, Punish January 25 Revolution Icons

Sana Abdul-Jawad, the wife of Dr. Mohamed Beltagy (leading member of the Freedom and Justice Party), said she was shocked at the death sentence issued Thursday against her husband and 13 other opponents of the illegitimate military coup, including Dr. Mohamed Badie, Muslim Brotherhood Chairman; and Bassem Ouda, Supply Minister in the government of the legitimate President Mohamed Morsi.

"This is pure and simple retaliation against the symbols of the January 25 Revolution. The putschists want to break the revolutionary movement in streets and squares across Egypt… These wholesale execution verdicts aim to crush the steadfastness of military coup opponents.

"Nevertheless, those icons of resistance are not in the least intimidated. Their spirit is high. In court, they were chanting the national anthem: "My homeland, you have my love, you have my heart… Those unjust verdicts will not break the steadfastness of those patriotic leaders’ families, either."

In this farcical trumped-up case known in the media as the Istiqama Mosque Incident, the Giza Criminal Court has ignored all normal procedures, broken the law and sentenced to death 14 national figures, symbols of the January 25 (2011) Revolution, and forwarded their papers to the Grand Mufti – usually to rubber-stamp the death sentences.

Those sentenced to death Thursday are: Dr. Mohamed Badie, Muslim Brotherhood Chairman; Dr. Mohamed Beltagy, Dr. Essam El-Erian, two leading figures of the Freedom and Justice Party; and Assem Abdel-Magid, member of the Al-Gama’a Al-Islamiya’s Shura Council; Dr. Bassem Ouda, Supply Minister in the legitimate government of Dr. Hisham Qandil; Dr. Safwat Hegazy, Islamic preacher; Ezzat Gouda, Anwar Shaltout, Husseini Mahrous, Essam Rashwan, Mohamed Hassan, Abdel-Razek Mahmoud, Azab Yakout and Mohamed Radwan.