Egypt Shocks the World with Plan for Mass Execution of 528 Muslim Brothers

[unhappycamper]

http://www.juancole.com/2014/03/shocks-execution-brothers.html

Egypt Shocks the World with Plan for Mass Execution of 528 Muslim Brothers
By Juan Cole | Mar. 25, 2014

An Egyptian court in the provincial center of El Minya on Monday shocked the world by sentencing 528 persons to death in the killing of a policeman and engaging in vandalism last August. Only 147 of the suspects are actually in custody. The rest were sentenced in absentia.

The accused were seen as having resorted to violence in August after the military used brutal methods to clear the area in front of the Rabi`a al-Adawiyyah Mosque in Nasr City, Cairo, of Muslim Brotherhood protesters. Several hundred were killed. The Egyptian government maintains that they were behaving violently, going on a kidnapping and murder spree. The Brotherhood activists had been complaining about the July 3, 2013, military coup, which deposed and jailed President Muhammad Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president. Morsi was seen as moving the pieces in place for establishment of a one-party fundamentalist state, against which activist youth demonstrated with a “day of rage.”

Among Middle Eastern countries, the most execution happy is Iran, with over 300 a year. With just one trial, Egypt has made itself more Draconian than Iran.

The procedure of the trial was criticized, insofar as the court was only in session twice and one of those meetings was Monday when sentencing occurred.

[MADem]

1. Appeals likely to follow verdicts of 529 death sentences in Egypt

I'm guessing how successful they are could be helped by international expressions of disapproval. That's a LOT of "in absentia" convictions.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/appeals-likely-to-follow-verdicts-of-529-death-sentences-in-egypt-1.1736640

The announcement yesterday of the verdict of 529 death sentences on defendants charged with killing a single police officer in the southern Egyptian town of Minya is one of the most extraordinary events to have taken place in a country which has witnessed a sequence of unexpected and sometimes shocking events since the overthrow of long-time president Husni Mubarak in February 2011. The death sentences were issued a mere three days into the trial of some 545 defendants – 16 were acquitted – and at which only 147 were present. The rest are on the run and were being tried in absentia. The verdicts will now be forwarded to the State Mufti for approval. Under Egyptian law, the Mufti, who is the primary source of religious authority within the state, must approve or reject the verdict. Less than a week ago, the Mufti approved death sentences issued in absentia for 26 people charged with terrorist offences. However, his decision is not final and the likelihood is that there will be further appeals against the sentences, not least in light of reports that defence lawyers were not allowed into the courtroom in Minya to hear the verdicts.

[GeorgeGist]

2. Springtime fresh.