Sir, – When the legitimately elected president of Egypt was ousted in a coup, commentators in the West welcomed the restraining of the power of the Muslim Brotherhood. When that party was banned, and all its voters disenfranchised at a stroke, there was little demur. When 529 members of the Brotherhood were sentenced to death for one crime, there was some gentle tut-tutting. Gen Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was globally accepted as the new president, when his so-called election was only achieved by the banning of the opposition.
Now one western journalist has been put in jail and suddenly there is an outcry. If Peter Greste is freed from prison, will that prevent Egypt from its inevitable slide into greater repression and the inevitable terrorist response?
If the Muslim Brotherhood has no legitimate outlet for its views, what else can you expect? Justice is justice and democracy is democracy. There will be no peace in the Middle East until legitimately elected leaders are respected and supported internationally. – Yours, etc,
ARTHUR DEENY,
Rock Road,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.