An Egyptian court has issued death sentence to 183 Muslim Brotherhood supporters accused of a role in the killing of police officers in August, 2013, during the upheaval that followed the army’s ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
This is coming a day after Egypt released Al Jazeera journalist, Peter Greste, accused of false reporting and aiding the Muslim Brotherhood,
183 out of 188 supporters of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood Movement were convicted over the killing of at least 11 policemen in August 2013.
According to state-run Al-Ahram newspaper, presiding Judge Nagy Shehata, sentenced a minor to 10 years in prison, acquitted two defendants, and dropped charges against two others as they had passed away,
The sentences came after the verdicts were sent to Egypt’s top cleric, Grand Mufti, for approval — a process that typically follows each mass trial
Their charges include participating in and funding terrorism, forming an illegal group aimed at obstructing state institutions from performing their duties, assaulting citizens and spreading terrorism.
The incident occurred in the town of Kerdasa, near Cairo at the period of intense fight between pro-Muslim Brotherhood and security forces.
In a reaction, Amnesty International has kicked against the trial which it says was held in prison complex, rather than the conventional courtroom, and that some defendants were sentenced in absentia,
It described the process as “Egypt’s disregard for national and international law.”
In a statement, its Middle East and North Africa Program Deputy Director, Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, said “These verdicts and sentences must be quashed and all of those convicted should be given a trial that meets international standards of fairness and excludes the death penalty,”
