The ghost of Sayyid Qutb haunting Egypt

Nearly two years have passed since the 2013 coup d'état against Muhammad Morsi, the first President in Egyptian history to come to office through democratic elections. During this time, in order to overcome the legitimacy crisis of his rule, the coup leader General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has established a regime of terror, carried out massacres, and taken the country back to the days of Hosni Mubarak and Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Most recently, in the "espionage" and "prison break" cases, the Cairo Criminal Court asked the Mufti of Egypt for his opinion on the execution of 106 people, including the elected President Muhammad Morsi. There is as yet no final decision. Under Egyptian law, before the court issues its final verdict it is obliged to ask the Mufti of Egypt about the sentence it is considering. The final verdict is expected to be announced on June 2.

The coup administration had earlier also issued death sentences against M. Badie, one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, and against dozens of Muslim Brotherhood members, but until now these sentences have not been carried out. It is found remarkable that in particular the four death sentences against Badie have not been carried out. Researchers who follow Egypt think that the coup government, already experiencing a legitimacy crisis, has not carried out the death sentences because it fears facing a new Hasan al-Banna or Sayyid Qutb ghost with Badie's execution. As for Morsi, whose trial has been going on for a long time and who had previously been sentenced to 20 years in prison, this is the first death sentence handed down against him.

After the court asked the Mufti for his opinion, messages of support for Morsi began to arrive from various countries of the Islamic world. Everyone who stands with the oppressed against the oppressor cried out that this decision was unacceptable, but, lo and behold, the only name among state leaders to oppose this decision loudly was President R. Tayyip Erdoğan. The leaders of Western countries, who constantly pontificate on subjects like democracy and human rights, kept silent on the death sentence for Morsi, who was sentenced without even being allowed to defend himself and who, moreover, was removed from office by an illegitimate coup.

Two more organizations besides Turkey can be mentioned as having reacted in the international community. After the announcement of the death sentences, Amnesty International declared that the decisions showed the pitiful state of the justice system in Egypt. Human Rights Watch thinks the decision aims to intimidate the opposition in the country. The deputy spokesman of the UN Secretary-General, for his part, was content to announce that the Secretary-General had noted the developments with concern.

That no one has spoken out against this decision in fact shows that they support what is going on in Egypt, the coup and the massacres. The democratization of Egypt, ruled by dictators for decades, was of course an unacceptable situation for certain powers, because they had before them the example of a Turkey that, after democratization, had slipped out of their control, developed and grown stronger. The possibility of Egypt becoming a second Turkey has constantly frightened certain parties, Israel first of all. The fact that the political movements in the region with a social base are only Islamic movements, and that these in turn take a critical stance toward the world order, has brought with it the elaboration of the thesis that free elections to be held in the region, Egypt first of all, would create chaos for the region. No one is demanding real democracy for the Islamic world. The expectation is that leaders who can meet the expectations of certain parties, Israel first of all, be in power. That is precisely why certain parties who are silent about the death sentence handed to Morsi are producing intense disinformation and speculation against President R. Tayyip Erdoğan and the AK Parti in Turkey.

Remember, when the coup took place in Egypt in July 2013, some written and visual media in Turkey ran headlines such as "Egypt's Tayyip has been toppled." After the court announced the demand for the death penalty against Morsi, one of these organs also tried to carry out a perception operation by running a mind-numbing headline like "came with 52 percent, sentenced to death."

Everyone accepts that the death sentences carry a political rather than a legal meaning. In order to secure his legitimacy in the country, the coup leader Sisi intensified, after the coup, the pressure on opposition groups. Among these groups he directed the most intense pressure, without doubt, at the Muslim Brotherhood. Sisi, notorious for massacring thousands of unarmed civilians who resisted the coup in Rabia Square, aimed to seat the Muslim Brotherhood at the table without preconditions and defenseless, and to make them recognize his rule. The coup leader Sisi, who in the two years since has not succeeded in this, and who has caused Egypt to lose its prestige both at home and in the international community, made his latest move by securing the execution of 106 people, including Morsi.

All of this shows that the revolutionary process continues in Egypt. By sentencing Morsi to death, those who want Egypt to be democratized and who want Egyptians to be, cannot be frightened or deterred. For those who want Egypt to be governed from Egypt, to be governed humanely and with justice, for those who want military coups and their regimes of savagery not to be experienced anywhere in the world, Morsi, the first elected President of Egyptian history, will continue to be a symbol.

The executions of those from the Ikhwan movement, Sayyid Qutb first of all, did not end the people's will to be free in Egypt; on the contrary, these executions have become a frightening, terrifying ghost haunting the pharaohs.

The death sentences have become the expression of the pharaohs' helpless fear of death, but the pharaoh's fear is of no use against his destined end. The ghost of Sayyid Qutb haunting Egypt also heralds the end of the pharaohs.