HARSH

Egyptian Court Sentences 75 to Death Over 2013 Violence

The sentences follow a mass trial condemned as a “grotesque parody of justice.”

An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced 75 people to death for their role in a 2013 sit-in protest against the removal of President Mohamed Morsi that led to violent clashes and the deaths of hundreds of protesters. Cairo Criminal Court issued the final verdict in the case of 739 people facing charges over the violence in Rabaa al-Adawiya, a square in the Egyptian capital. Many of those sentenced Saturday were members or supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. Prominent Muslim Brotherhood members Essam El-Erian, Mohamed Beltagy, Abdel-Rahman al-Bar, and Osama Yassin were among the 75 people hit with a death sentence. Mohamed Badie, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, was sentenced to life in prison. The trial has been condemned by human rights groups, with Amnesty International calling it a “grotesque parody of justice.” “That not a single police officer has been brought to account for the killing of at least 900 people in the Rabaa and Nahda protests shows what a mockery of justice this trial was,” Amnesty International said after the sentencing Saturday.