Egyptian Court Sentences 683 to Death.

Egyptian Court Sentences 683 to Death.

On April 28, 2014, an Egyptian court sentenced 683 people to die.  Among those sentenced were the top leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. This incident is the latest the latest mass trial aimed at the Muslim Brotherhood of which former President Mohammed Morsi was a member. All defendants were charged with the attack on a police station in the city of Minya which occurred last year.  A policeman was killed during said attack.

The spiritual guide of the Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie, was among those convicted on Monday, April 28. The Associated Press writes: “If his sentence is confirmed, it would make him the most senior Brotherhood figure sentenced to death since one of the group’s leading ideologues, Sayed Qutb, was executed in 1966.”

As recently as this past March, the U.N. Human Rights office described the mass death sentences as “unprecedented in recent history.”  In fact, a U.S. State Department spokesperson called them “unconscionable” and as having a “flagrant disregard for basic standards of justice.”

A recent  AP reports states that:

“Monday’s ruling sparked an outcry among families of the defendants outside the court, with women fainting and relatives wailing and crying out ‘Why? This is unfair!’

” ‘My three sons are inside,’ said a woman who only gave her first name, Samiya, as she screamed in grief. ‘I have no one but God.’

“Lawyer Ali Kamal said the hearing lasted only eight minutes. Security forces surrounded the court building and blocked roads, preventing families and media from attending the proceedings.”

In a separate ruling also dated April 28, another Egyptian court banned the April 6 youth movement that engineered the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

It is impossible to predict the outcome for Egypt.  It is sort of a wait and see game….