Prosecutor Who Went After Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood Assassinated in Cairo

The Egyptian prosecutor who led the prosecution of former President Mohamed Morsi and many of his Muslims Brotherhood compatriots was assassinate in a Cairo bombing today.

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Terrorist groups have had their eyes on Egypt since the ouster of Morsi, but calls to attack Egypt have stepped up since Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie were sentenced to death.

The Taliban, for exampled, has called upon every “influential” Muslim to try to save Morsi. Terrorist attacks increased in the restive Sinai peninsula after Morsi’s sentencing.

Today, Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat was killed in a car bombing — not the first assassination attempt against a state official since Morsi’s ouster, but the first successful one.

Barakat died hours after the North Cairo attack due to internal bleeding, Al-Ahram reported.

The car bomb was planted along the route Barakat’s convoy would take every day from his home to work. The Egyptian presidency decried the terrorist attack and said in a statement the country “has lost a great judicial figure who has shown dedication to work and commitment to the ethics of the noble judicial profession.”

The Obama administration, which has been highly critical of the Morsi and other Muslim Brotherhood prosecutions, said in a statement through National Security Council spokesman Ned Price that “the United States strongly condemns today’s terrorist attack in Cairo that killed Egyptian Prosecutor-General Hisham Barakat and injured at least nine others.”

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“We offer our condolences to the family of Mr. Barakat, those injured in the attack, and the Government and people of Egypt,” Price said. “The United States stands by Egypt at this difficult time, as we continue to work together to fight the scourge of terrorism.”

The statement from State Department spokesman John Kirby was nearly identical: “The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the terrorist attack, which killed the Egyptian Public Prosecutor Hisham Barakat. We extend our deepest condolences to the Egyptian Government and to the families and friends of those who lost their lives. We also wish a speedy recovery to those who suffered injuries. The United States stands firmly with the Egyptian government in its efforts to confront terrorism.”

The Muslim Brotherhood tweeted that “murder is reprehensible and unacceptable,” and only ousting President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s government “will stop the bloodshed.”

“Today’s crime reveals the coup’s security apparatuses is only capable of facing peaceful protesters, torturing workers & harassing the poor,” they said, never mentioning the slain prosecutor by name. “We affirm that violence will not end except by achieving justice, toppling this illegitimate regime and allowing #Egypt to be free.”

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