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CAIRO — An Egyptian court sentenced 183 supporters of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood to death yesterday on charges of killing police officers, part of a sustained crackdown by authorities on Islamists.
The men were convicted of playing a role in the killings of 16 policemen in the town of Kardasa in August, 2013 during the upheaval that followed the army’s ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi. Thirty-four were sentenced in absentia.
Egypt has mounted one of the biggest crackdowns in its modern history on the Brotherhood since the political demise of Mursi, the country’s first democratically-elected president.
Thousands of Brotherhood supporters have been arrested and put on mass trials in a campaign which human rights groups say shows the government is systematically repressing opponents.
“Today’s death sentences are yet another example of the bias of the Egyptian criminal justice system,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International.
“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.”
Yesterday’s sentences came a day after Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste was freed after serving 400 days in Egyptian jail on charges that included aiding a terrorist group — a reference to the Brotherhood. Two of his Al Jazeera colleagues are still detained.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who as army chief toppled Mursi, describes the Brotherhood as a major security threat. — Reuters.
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