Special to WorldTribune.com

The U.S. State Department said it was “deeply concerned” after former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and over 100 of his Muslim Brotherhood supporters were sentenced to death on May 16.

The U.S. condemnation of the trial followed criticism from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a supporter of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.

“We are deeply concerned by yet another mass death sentence handed down by an Egyptian court to more than 100 defendants, including former President Morsi,” a State Department official said.

“We have consistently spoken out against the practice of mass trials and sentences, which are conducted in a manner that is inconsistent with Egypt’s international obligations and the rule of law.”

Morsi and 106 others were sentenced in Cairo on May 16 after being convicted on charges of killing and kidnapping policemen, attacking police facilities and breaking out of jail during the 2011 uprising.

The sentences were preliminary and the final decision will be handed down by the court on June 2.

Death sentences in Egypt are referred to the government’s interpreter of Islamic law, the Grand Mufti, who makes recommendations on the final sentence. Defendants are still able to appeal the mufti’s decision.

Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, said the court which convicted him is not legitimate. The former president claimed the verdict was part of a coup led by current President Abdul Fatah Sisi, who led the military that overthrew Morsi in July 2013.

Erdogan accused Sisi of returning to the “old Egypt” by scaling back democracy.

Though the Obama administration cooled to Sisi after the overthrow of Morsi, Egypt remains a key U.S. ally. President Barack Obama in March authorized the delivery of $1.3 billion in U.S. arms to Cairo.

Hours after the ruling on May 16, gunmen in the Sinai Peninsula killed two judges, a prosecutor and their driver in the first such attack on the judiciary in the region.

  U.S. ‘deeply concerned’ over Muslim Brotherhood death sentences in Egypt, WorldTribune.com