(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki has begun an "international petition" aimed at stopping the possible execution of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president who was deposed by the military almost two years ago.
"Signatories of this petition express their condemnation of all politically-driven trials in Egypt," Marzouki said Tuesday on Facebook.
He added that the signature drive was being organized by a group of Tunisian "politicians, intellectuals, civil society figures and university professors".
Marzouki, speaking on behalf of those organizing the petition, also condemned last week's execution of six Egyptians convicted of involvement in "terrorism" by an Egyptian military court.
The executions drew criticism from a number of local and international rights watchdogs.
"The Egyptian authorities must halt [prison and death] sentences and other forms of repression against political activists who remain committed to the January 25 revolution's demands for freedom and dignity," Marzouki said.
He was referring to the 2011 popular uprising that toppled Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak. That uprising followed similar protests in Tunisia that forced longtime autocrat Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali from power earlier the same year.
"As a result of these court sentences, violence in Egypt could escalate to the level of civil war, which would only serve the enemies of democracy and stability," Marzouki asserted.
Earlier this month, an Egyptian court referred Morsi's case € and those of 121 others € to the country's grand mufti to consider possible death sentences against them on charges of jailbreak and espionage.
The opinion of the mufti, Egypt's top religious authority, is not binding on the court. But Egyptian law makes it necessary for judges to seek a religious point of view on any death sentence handed out by the courts.
New York-based Human Rights Watch has described the trial as "badly flawed", while London-based Amnesty International said the ruling "shatters any remaining illusion of independence and impartiality in Egypt's criminal justice system".
The Egyptian court has set June 2 to declare its verdict € which will still be subject to appeal € against Morsi and his co-defendants.
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