Egypt's justice minister calls for mass killing of Brotherhood

Hundreds of thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members should be killed to avenge the deaths of security personnel, says Ahmad al-Zind, despite the group denying any link to the militant attacks.

Narrated

2 min read

The New Arab

28 Jan, 2016

According to Zind, the fire in his heart won't die until he gets revenge [TNA]

Egypt's minister of justice has said that hundreds of thousands of his countrymen should be put to death to avenge the deaths of slain policemen and soldiers.

Ahmad al-Zind said that members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood should pay the ultimate price for servicemen who are killed in militant attacks.

Egypt for years has been fighting a Sinai-based Islamic insurgency.

The attacks have grown more frequent and deadlier since July 2013, when President Abdel al-Fattah al-Sisi, the then defence minister, led a military coup against Islamist president and Muslim Brother Mohammed Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected leader.

The Brotherhood has repeatedly denied accusations of any connection to the Islamic State [IS] group-affiliated militants' attacks.

"I believe the lives of 400,000 men wouldn't be enough for the righteous martyrs," Zind said, on the talk show of notoriously pro-Sisi media personality Ahmad Moussa.

"I swear to god, me personally… the fire in my heart will not go out unless at least 10,000 men are taken in return for each [martyr]," Zind added.

To which Moussa smilingly responded: "That would be the total number of Muslim Brothers".

Zind agrees, saying: "The Brotherhood and the people who help them, love them, are friendly with them and have grown dependent on sinful money from Turkey, Qatar and Iran."

Egypt's head of the notoriously politicised and corrupt judiciary also said that he would step down from his post if the death sentences handed down to Morsi and other Brotherhood leaders were not carried out.

But Zind has not always been so hostile to the ousted president.

In 2013, four months before the coup d'etat, he said he had prayed for Morsi while he was on Hajj pilgrimage and said: "Morsi is the head of state and deserves all respect".

Six journalists were referred for trial earlier this month for allegedly spreading "false news" that defamed Zind.

They accused him of being involved in selling state land to his relative at below-market price.

The Sisi government has branded the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation and launched a harsh crackdown on its supporters and leaders, leaving hundreds dead and thousands jailed after often speedy mass trials.

Militants have killed hundreds of security personnel, mainly in Sinai, since the overthrow of Morsi.

On Thursday, IS claimed responsibility for a roadside bombing of an army convoy in Sinai that killed at least four a day earlier.