Egyptian court sentences 529 Muslim Brotherhood members to death: Lawyer

Tuesday, 25 March 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: An Egyptian court sentenced 529 members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood to death on charges including murder on Monday, a defence lawyer said, in a sharp escalation of a crackdown on the movement. The ruling was the biggest mass death sentence handed out in Egypt’s modern history, lawyers said.

Turmoil has deepened since the army overthrew Egypt’s first freely elected president, Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, in July. Security forces have killed hundreds of Brotherhood members in the streets, and arrested thousands. Most of the defendants at Monday’s hearing were detained during clashes which erupted in the southern province of Minya after the forced dispersal of two Muslim Brotherhood protest camps in Cairo on August 14. Islamists have also stepped up attacks on the police and army since Mursi’s ouster, killing hundreds and carrying out high profile operations against Interior Ministry officials. “The court has decided to sentence to death 529 defendants, and 16 were acquitted,” lawyer Ahmed al-Sharif told Reuters. The ruling can be appealed. The charges against the group, on trial in Minya since Saturday, include violence, inciting murder, storming a police station, attacking persons and damaging public and private property. “This is the quickest case and the number sentenced to death is the largest in the history of the judiciary,” said lawyer Nabil Abdel Salam, who defends some Brotherhood leaders including Mursi.