A SENSATION.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 119, 23 May 1910, Page 7

A SENSATION.

MURDER OF EGYPTIAN PREMIER. MUFTI INTERVENES ON HIS BEHALF. Bj Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright. CAIRO, 21st May. A sensation has been caused ir Egypt by a declaration of the Mufti. The declaration is addressed to the three judges in the case of Wardani (the Mohammedan who assassinated with a revolver the Egyptian Premier Boutros Pasha, and who, according to a cablegram of 14th May, was condemned to death, from which sentence he has appealed). The Mufti declares that the judges must refuse to sanction the death, sentence for three reasons: — (1) That revolver wounds arc outside Mohammed's definition •of murder. (2) That the victim was a Ohiistian. (3) That the relatives of Boutros did not prosecute Wardani. 'rhe Multi's appeal is made to Moham medan passions, and directly threatens the Copts, who aie Christians. Wardani's appeal against the death sentence will be heard on sth June. AN EXPLANATION, CONSULTATION WITH MUFTI ONLY A FORMALITY. (Received May 23, 8.40 a.m.) CAIRO, 22nd May. It is semi-officially announced at Cairo that consultation with the Mufti is a pure formality, and that a sentence cannot be- altered unless the Court of Cassation orders a new trial on legal grounds. [The Mufti is an official expounder of Mohammedan law which the Cadi (or judge) has to execute. The Turkish Grand Mufti, or Sheikh-ul-Islam, is the head of the great corporation of Ulema (whose designs when written down are called "fetwas") and is little less powerful than the Grand Vizier. "A fetwa (according to an authority) is a decision according to Koran and Surma, but without reasons, on an abstract case of law which is brought before the mufti by appeal from the cadi's authority or by reference from the cadi himself. . . From this decision there is no appeal, so that the mufti is supreme judge in his own district."]