715 more Morsi supporters on trial for their lives

715 more Morsi supporters on trial for their lives
Thu Mar 27, 2014 10:10:10

Egypt's prosecutor general on Wednesday referred 715 alleged supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi to trial on capital charges, local media reported.

The defendants - of whom only 160 are in custody - have been charged with rioting and murder during the violence that gripped the southern province of Minya in the wake of a deadly police raid on pro-Morsi protest camps in August in Cairo.

The head of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie, is among the accused, the official MENA news agency said, in a reported posted online by state-run newspaper al-Ahram.

The charges come days after Minya's criminal court condemned 529 alleged Morsi supporters to hang for their roles in the August 14 slaying of a police officer in the town of Matay.

The Matay verdict, which came after only two brief hearings during which lawyers for the accused said they were not allowed to present a defense, drew local and international condemnation.

The UN Human Rights Office said it was a breach of international human rights law, while the Muslim Brotherhood slammed it as a "clear violation of all norms of humane and legal justice."

The sentences have been sent to Egypt's chief Islamic jurist for a non-binding advisory opinion and are subject to automatic appeal.

On Tuesday the same court held a first session in the trial of a further 683 defendants charged with riots on the same day in the town of Udwa, and adjourned the case to pronounce a verdict at the end of April.

Minya, an Islamist stronghold, was hard hit by the violence that broke out in much of Egypt after police stormed two huge protest camps on August 14 in Cairo, killing at least 700 Morsi supporters.

The government said at the time that 43 police officers were killed that day, mostly in retaliatory attacks.The defendants - of whom only 160 are in custody - have been charged with rioting and murder during the violence that gripped the southern province of Minya in the wake of a deadly police raid on pro-Morsi protest camps in August in Cairo.

The head of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie, is among the accused, the official MENA news agency said, in a reported posted online by state-run newspaper al-Ahram.

The charges come days after Minya's criminal court condemned 529 alleged Morsi supporters to hang for their roles in the August 14 slaying of a police officer in the town of Matay.

The Matay verdict, which came after only two brief hearings during which lawyers for the accused said they were not allowed to present a defense, drew local and international condemnation.

The UN Human Rights Office said it was a breach of international human rights law, while the Muslim Brotherhood slammed it as a "clear violation of all norms of humane and legal justice."

The sentences have been sent to Egypt's chief Islamic jurist for a non-binding advisory opinion and are subject to automatic appeal.

On Tuesday the same court held a first session in the trial of a further 683 defendants charged with riots on the same day in the town of Udwa, and adjourned the case to pronounce a verdict at the end of April.

Minya, an Islamist stronghold, was hard hit by the violence that broke out in much of Egypt after police stormed two huge protest camps on August 14 in Cairo, killing at least 700 Morsi supporters.

The government said at the time that 43 police officers were killed that day, mostly in retaliatory attacks.

NJF/NJF

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