The death sentences handed out by an Egyptian court against 529 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood on March 24 have sparked widespread outrage and international condemnation. Rights groups, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat among others expressed concern and questioned the fairness of proceedings against so many defendants lasting just two days.
Monday’s sentences in the central city of Minya were related to the death of a policeman and other violence that took place across the country since July, when the army overthrew Egypt’s first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.
This is injustice writ large and these death sentences must be quashed. Imposing death sentences of this magnitude in a single case makes Egypt surpass most other countries’ use of capital punishment in a year,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International.
“This is the largest single batch of simultaneous death sentences we’ve seen in recent years, not just in Egypt but anywhere in the world.
“Egypt’s courts are quick to punish Mohamed Morsi’s supporters but ignore gross human rights violations by the security forces. While thousands of Morsi’s supporters languish in jail, there has not been an adequate investigation into the deaths of hundreds of protesters. Just one police officer is facing a prison sentence, for the deaths of 37 detainees.
“Without an independent and impartial process that can deliver truth and justice for all, many will question whether Egypt’s criminal justice system has indeed anything to do with justice. In any event, recourse to the death penalty is inherently unjust, and the Egyptian authorities should impose a moratorium on executions, with a view to abolishing it.”
Legal experts said the shock verdict would likely be overturned on appeal because the court had rushed the trial without following the required procedures. Lawyers said the judge brought the case to a close after two sessions and refused to allow the defence to complete their cases.
Washington said it was “deeply concerned” about the death sentences. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urged Egyptian authorities to grant defendants “the right to a fair and timely trial” and said “capital punishment can never be justified”.
Defence counsel Mohamed Tousson charged that the judge had rushed to sentencing on Monday (March 24) after being angered by a lawyer’s request for his recusal at Saturday’s opening hearing. “He got very angry, and adjourned the trial for sentencing,” Tousson told AFP news agency. “It’s a huge violation of defendants’ rights.”
The Muslim Brotherhood said the death sentences were yet “another indication that the corrupt judiciary is being used by the coup commanders to suppress the Egyptian revolution and install a brutal regime”.
At least 1,400 people have been killed in the crackdown on Morsi’s supporters and thousands more arrested, according to Amnesty International.
In a statement on March 25, Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Omari, Amir Jamaat-e-Islami Hind termed it as murder of justice and humanity. “The verdict of the Egyptian court is a mockery of Islamic rules and principles and an extremely brutal act,” said Maulana Omari and advised the rulers of Egypt to keep from writing a condemnable history of brutalities and fear the wrath of Almighty.
Amir-e Jamaat said that justice and equality demands that courts would have taken sou moto action against those who ousted the democratically elected president Mohammad Morsi through terror, brutal and unjustified means, and awarded them stringent punishment for their brutalities. It is sad that instead of doing that, courts, ignoring all established rules of judiciary, are awarding death sentences to those who raised voice for establishing justice.
Maulana Omari has appealed to United Nations, human rights organisations and all justice-loving nations and people of the world to raise their voice against the brutal and unjustified act of Egyptian courts so that innocents could be saved and justice established.
Persecution of Muslim Brotherhood (MB) leaders and members in Egypt and some other Arab countries is illegal and undemocratic, said the All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, the umbrella body of Indian Muslim organisations, in a statement in New Delhi on March 28.
The statement issued by the AIMMM President Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan said that banning a mass organisation, which only two years back won presidential, Parliament and Shura Council elections in Egypt and whose draft constitution was voted by a majority of the Egyptian voters, cannot be outlawed and banned as “terrorist” by the whims of a military dictator only to knock out a popular movement and to make space for political forces which did extremely badly in the 2012 elections.
Dr Khan said there is no independently verifiable proof that MB indulges in terrorism while it has set a world record by staging continuous popular demonstrations against the usurper military government for the last nine months. People in large numbers keep flouting an illegal law which requires prior police permission to stage a demonstration. Egyptian university and school students are continuously demonstrating in various parts of Egypt against the military coup for the last three weeks.
Dr Khan said the military government has killed some 8,000 and arrested around 22,000 Muslim Brotherhood leaders, workers and supporters. A kangaroo court on 25 March sentenced 528 persons to death for the alleged killing of one police officer. The court proceedings merely lasted half an hour over two days. There are some more similar sentences in line in order to silence the popular opposition and pave the way for the election as President of the putschist general Al-Sisi who has set a world record of army murdering own unarmed people in peace time.
Dr Khan added that the banning of MB in Egypt and other countries aims at protecting the medieval dictatorships in these countries which overlord their countrymen under American protection. They return this favour by allowing US government and companies to plunder their resources and control their markets.
Dr Khan said MB is too large a popular force to be crushed by the heavy boots of the generals. He said people who are trying to crush MB are only playing with fire and will harm their respective countries.
Dr Khan appealed to all democracy-loving nations and people to raise their voice against this historic injustice.