On Monday, the Egyptian state television said that the leader of the now defunct Muslim Brotherhood and hundreds of others had been sentenced by a court to death. CNN noted that the court was the same one that handed out the death penalty on 37 other members of the group earlier.
The charges brought against them were linked to the violent riots that occurred in August last year in the central Egyptian city. The bloody incidents have caused the untimely death of a police officer and followed an equally deadly crackdown on two Cairo sit-ins held by former Islamist President Mohamed Morsy's supporters by security forces.
The capital sentences of Mohammed Badie and 683 others are not final, as CNN said that their cases had been referred to the country's grand mufti, the highest religious authority in Egypt, for review. On the other hand, the death sentences of the 37 of the 529 Muslim Brotherhood supporters were upheld by the judge. The rest were reportedly commuted to life in prison. CNN said majority of the people sentenced were tried in absentia, and as such, all of the defendants are permitted to file for an appeal.
The official website of the Muslim Brotherhood quoted Morsy's son, Osama, who said in reaction to the court session on Monday following the reading of the death sentence, "If they hung us a thousand times God will never detract from what it is right. We will not tremble because death in the name of Allah is faith. May Allah accept."
Member Gamal Heshmat of the Muslim Brotherhood's Shura Council, its highest advisory body, said about the latest court decision, "(The sentences) put an end to the myth of independence of the judiciary (and) are solely based on direct orders from the coup masterminds who deposed the legitimate elected President for personal interests. There is no justice, no legal system in Egypt any more. Lawsuits are now turned into political battles, where the ruler seeks revenge against honorable patriotic citizens."
