UN Condems Death Sentences In Egypt
An Egyptian judge has sentenced 683 men to death in the country’s latest mass trial. They were sentenced to death on charges of killing a policeman in August 2013 reports The Guardian.
In a similar but separate case, the same judge then upheld the death sentences of 37 of 529 men he ordered to hang in an earlier trial, bringing the total number of death sentences to 720.
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In passing the sentences, the judge, Saeed Youssef, ignored an international campaign in which more than 1.5 million people signed a petition hosted by the online activists Avaaz calling for a re-trial.
Lawyers and human rights campaigners from afar have condemned the verdict, criticizing that the sentences resulted from rushed proceedings that infringed basic local and international law. The European Union’s foreign policy chief said Egypt’s sentencing breached international law and urged Cairo authorities to ensure defendants’ rights to a fair and timely trial.
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Flickr photo credit: Bakar_88
