529 People Sentenced to Death in Mass Trial in Egypt

[angrysoba]

This looks absolutely outrageous to me.

Whatever most of us feel about the Muslim Brotherhood, sentencing 529 of its followers to death over a riot in which a police officer was killed looks like the kind of thing a fascist government would do.

Link

 

[Darat]

This looks absolutely outrageous to me.

Whatever most of us feel about the Muslim Brotherhood, sentencing 529 of its followers to death over a riot in which a police officer was killed looks like the kind of thing a fascist government would do.

Link

Or a military dictatorship.

 

[MikeG]

I wouldn't blame the system for this one. This looks like a rogue judge with a vendetta and a very short temper. They'll all get a re-trial or an acquittal on appeal.

 

[Childlike Empress]

I wouldn't blame the system for this one. This looks like a rogue judge with a vendetta and a very short temper. They'll all get a re-trial or an acquittal on appeal.

Hopefully, and it looks like you are on the right track. According to Al Ahram it will be appealed and tomorrow there will be a press conference of the defense lawyers outlining the (they claim many) violations in the procedure. Maybe even a plot to show that "something like this" can't happen under saviour Sisi?

 

[fuelair]

I'm still wondering how any intelligent Egyptians would not have expected the MB to do exactly what it did.* They are what they are and it ain't what they oughtta be!!!!!






*Note, I am fair on this - if there is anything remotely resembling a rational Party in Egypt, I have heard nothing of it over the last few years. And I must say the same of most every other country in the area.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

NPR said that death penalties have to be approved by some grand juror, or something, even if they don't appeal.

 

[dudalb]

Outrageous,but,frankly, I would not put the MB above something like this if they had gotten control of the country.
Sad. Egypt seems to be caught between a Iranian Style Theocracy and Military Dictatorship.

 

[Polaris]

Outrageous,but,frankly, I would not put the MB above something like this if they had gotten control of the country.
Sad. Egypt seems to be caught between a Iranian Style Theocracy and Military Dictatorship.

And in the case of the MB, it would have been a few hundred decent people put to death rather than Islamist knuckle draggers.

 

[shuize]

And in the case of the MB, it would have been a few hundred decent people put to death rather than Islamist knuckle draggers.

I agree they are knuckle draggers and would likely not have shown their opponents any better treatment. If those MB followers were killed in police raids, I wouldn't have much sympathy. However, the mass death sentences in which the defendants were not present and not allowed to put up a defense makes a mockery of the court system.

 

[fuelair]

I agree they are knuckle draggers and would likely not have shown their opponents any better treatment. If those MB followers were killed in police raids, I wouldn't have much sympathy. However, the mass death sentences in which the defendants were not present and not allowed to put up a defense makes a mockery of the court system.

And, normally the courts in Egypt are models of judicial practice.....

 

[angrysoba]

The Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual leader and more than 180 others were sentenced to death Saturday by an Egyptian court in the latest mass trial following last year's overthrow of the country's Islamist president.

The ruling by the southern Minya Criminal Court is the largest confirmed mass death sentence to be handed down in Egypt in recent memory and comes from Judge Said Youssef, who earlier presided over the mass trial. It is the second death sentence for the Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie since the crackdown against his group began.

The court acquitted more than 400 others in the case and family members of the accused wailed or cheered the verdicts.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/musl...leader-sentenced-to-death-in-egypt-1403360703

 

[a_unique_person]

A Muslim commentator on Australia, Walled Ali, had claimed that hatred for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is so strong they don't care how hard the current regime cracks down on the MB. They don't want them back again, ever. The MB really blew it when they won the election.

 

[Puppycow]

About time for an update on this. Here's the latest:

230 anti-Mubarak activists sentenced to life in prison

CAIRO: An Egyptian court Wednesday sentenced to life 230 activists from the 2011 revolt against long-time president Hosni Mubarak, including leading campaigner Ahmed Douma, judicial sources said.
Thirty-nine others, all minors, were jailed for 10 years.
All 269 defendants were convicted of taking part in clashes with security forces near Cairo’s Tahrir Square in December 2011, the sources said.

These are not just Islamists, these include liberals who participated in the Tahrir Square protests that ousted Mubarak.

 

[Darth Rotor]

So, are they dead yet, or is their final fate pending a review?

 

[Arcade22]

I just love the completely disproportionate coverage and outrage from both the western media and more importantly western politicians compared to the Islamic States latest actions.

Yeah wage a scorched earth campaign where you raze villages completely because they don't happen to support your government, lock up thousands upon thousands of people because they publicly oppose you and regularly violate those oh so scared "human rights" as much as you want just make sure that you support Americas current regional interests.

 

[Charlie Wilkes]

I just love the completely disproportionate coverage and outrage from both the western media and more importantly western politicians compared to the Islamic States latest actions.

Yeah wage a scorched earth campaign where you raze villages completely because they don't happen to support your government, lock up thousands upon thousands of people because they publicly oppose you and regularly violate those oh so scared "human rights" as much as you want just make sure that you support Americas current regional interests.

A-yep. That's about the size of it.

 

[Puppycow]

Is Egypt razing villages too? Somehow that escaped my notice.

 

[Charlie Wilkes]

Is Egypt razing villages too? Somehow that escaped my notice.

It's escaping a lot of people's notice.

http://www.news.com.au/travel/trave...iped-off-the-map/story-e6frfq80-1227205955161

ETA: Don't get me wrong, I'm all for it. Oppression and brutality are simply the means by which Arabs choose to express their views. As a liberal, I celebrate cultural diversity without passing judgement. But with the focus on ISIS atrocities, I sometimes fear that Westerners are getting a distorted view of what is going on over there...

 

[Puppycow]

I do think that ISIS really is in a league of its own when it comes to human rights abuses.

Anyway, as to the razing:

Rafah is located in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt’s northeast, straddling the border with the Gaza strip. It is home to thousands of families, all of whom will be forcibly relocated under plans to create a “buffer zone” on the border.

Egyptian authorities hope the no-go zone will disrupt smuggling and militant operations in the troubled Sinai — but the scale and lack of prior notice, adequate compensation or provision of alternate housing for displaced families has prompted concern from rights groups.

The drastic measures are aimed at preventing the smuggling of weapons and other contraband, as well as the movement of persons, to and from the blockaded Gaza strip.

A crackdown on jihadi and extremist activity in Sinai has intensified since mid-2013, what was once a low level conflict has bloomed into a fully-fledged insurgency. Hundreds of security forces have been killed in the last 18 months. The largest attack in October of 2014 left more than 30 dead.

Just this Thursday, 27 Egyptian soldiers were killed in a series of attacks targeting military facilities in North Sinai and Suez.

The State of Sinai, formerly Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in November, took responsibility for the Sinai-based attacks on their Twitter account.

So it would appear to be more than simply razing villages "because they don't happen to support your government". There is an actual insurrection going on in which dozens of Egyptian soldiers died in a single day.

 

[angrysoba]

I do think that ISIS really is in a league of its own when it comes to human rights abuses.

Anyway, as to the razing:



So it would appear to be more than simply razing villages "because they don't happen to support your government". There is an actual insurrection going on in which dozens of Egyptian soldiers died in a single day.

Yes, and the ISIS affiliated group has also been chopping off heads, just as their brethren in Iraq and Syria have.