Brotherhood head, 682 others tried in Egypt after mass death sentence

529 supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi have been sentenced to death by Egypt’s Minya Criminal Court. The defendants were part of a group of 545 people on trial on charges of killing a police officer, attempted killing of two others, attacking a police station and other acts of violence in Minya city. Over 150 of those handed the death penalty are in detention, while the rest are on the run. The verdicts can be appealed. This is the latest crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood by the military-backed government since the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi back in July. Rights groups have accused the government of human rights abuses and orchestrating politically-motivated trials against members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Meanwhile, nearly 700 Morsi’s supporters are also facing trial of whom 683 appeared in court in the city of Minya. Responding to the crackdown, the anti-coup alliance has called for mass protests on Wednesday. What do you think about the mass trials? How do you evaluate the reaction by the international community? Can the trails and convictions remedy the crisis in Egypt? Tue, Mar 25 18:15 PM EDT By Treza Kamal MINYA, Egypt (Reuters) - The leader of Egypt's outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and 682 others went on trial on Tuesday on charges including murder, a day after more than 500 supporters of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Mursi were sentenced to death. The mass trials and death sentences - the biggest in Egypt's modern history - are signs that the crackdown on Mursi's Brotherhood is intensifying ahead of presidential elections that army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is expected to win. The Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, 70, and the others are being tried in the same court that a day earlier condemned 529 members of the Islamist group to death, a verdict condemned by foreign governments and rights groups. Defense lawyers boycotted Tuesday's court session after complaining of irregularities, and reporters were barred. "We refrained from attending ... because the judge has violated criminal law procedures and did not allow the (lawyers) to present their Defense," Adel Ali, a member of the Defense team, told Reuters. Protests erupted after Tuesday's trial began, with police firing tear gas to deter hundreds of demonstrators. An Islamist alliance that includes the Brotherhood has called on Egyptians to stage nationwide protests on Wednesday. The U.N. human rights office said Monday's mass death sentences contravened international law and the ruling was also criticized by the European Union and the United States. The United States escalated its criticism on Tuesday. "The imposition of the death penalty for 529 defendants after a two-day summary proceeding cannot be reconciled with Egypt's obligations under international human rights law, and its implementation of these sentences ... would be unconscionable," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told a news briefing in Washington. The death sentences on Monday and the start of the new mass trial on Tuesday "represent a flagrant disregard for basic standards of justice," Harf said. Harf noted that the United States is "currently evaluating our aid policy" toward Egypt and that "everything that happens on the ground, including this, will play into the decision about where our assistance relationship goes from here." "Yesterday was ... a death sentence for the credibility and independence of Egypt's criminal justice system," said Nicholas Piachaud of Amnesty International. "There is little hope of the 683 people indicted in this latest trial of receiving fair proceedings before the same judge who yesterday handed down death sentences so readily." There are no signs that Western powers will back their dismay with action to push for greater democracy in Egypt, which is of strategic importance because of its peace treaty with Israel and for the Suez Canal, a major global shipping lane. Justice Ministry official Abdel Atheem al-Ashari defended the death sentences, saying in a response to the ruling that the separation between the state and the judiciary was a principle of any democratic system. A CRACKDOWN Egypt has cracked down hard on the Brotherhood since Sisi toppled Mursi, Egypt's first freely elected president, in July, and installed a government. In August, security forces killed hundreds of Brotherhood supporters who were staging a sit-in to demand Mursi's reinstatement. Thousands of others were arrested and leaders, including Mursi himself, are on trial. Seventy-seven of those on trial on Tuesday are in custody while the rest have been released on bail or are on the run, Defense lawyer Ali said. The verdicts are due on April 28. All the charges relate to clashes in Minya, a bastion of Islamist support south of Cairo, that broke out after the security forces crushed the pro-Mursi camps in the capital. A policeman was killed during the protests. Hours after Tuesday's trial began, protests broke out at Minya University. Police lobbed teargas canisters and fired in the air in an attempt to disperse hundreds of demonstrators. In Egypt's second city Alexandria, a Reuters witness said protesters chanting against Sisi marched out of the main gate of a university and blocked a busy road. Some raised their hands to display the four-finger sign that has become a symbol of sympathy for the Brotherhood. Security forces fired tear gas, birdshot and live rounds into the air, while protesters threw stones. "We're coming out (to protest) today because the judiciary has become a tool in the hands of the military and the authorities," said Mohamed Ashraf, a student in the faculty of commerce. "This is evidence of a military coup in Egypt." The pro-Mursi Islamist alliance has urged Egyptians to take to the streets in politically sensitive areas of Cairo on Wednesday despite severe restrictions on demonstrations. The sites include the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, scene of one of two pro-Mursi protest camps and Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of the revolt against Mubarak. The Brotherhood, believed to number about one million in a population of 85 million, has been declared a terrorist group by the government which blames it and other Islamist groups for attacks on police and soldiers since Mursi was deposed. The Brotherhood says it is committed to peaceful activism. (Additional reporting by Asma Alsharif, Yasmine Saleh and Will Dunham; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Alison Williams, Robin Pomeroy and James Dalgleish) =============================================== Egyptian expatriates living in Qatar wait for their turn to vote at the Egyptian Embassy in Doha, May 12, 2012. (photo by REUTERS/Mohammed Dabbous) Egypt fears backlash if it cuts ties with Qatar Author: Walaa Hussein Posted March 12, 2014 On March 6, the Egyptian Council of Ministers declared that Egypt’s ambassador to Qatar, who was summoned to Cairo in early February, will not return to Doha at the moment, and that he is on indefinite leave. At the same time, Egyptian politicians asserted that the presence of Egyptian workers in Qatar is the only reason behind the Egyptian government not taking a decision to finalize withdrawing its ambassador as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain did, despite a strong Egyptian desire to do so. Summary⎙ Print Egypt is hesitating to join the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and cut ties with Qatar, because the government fears the repercussions such a step would have for the many Egyptians working in Qatar.Author Walaa Hussein Posted March 12, 2014 Translator(s)Rani Geha Various political forces in Egypt asked the government to follow suit on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) decision and to formally withdraw Egypt’s ambassador from Qatar and announce the cutting of ties, after Qatar wasted all opportunities given to it and insisted on interfering in Egypt’s internal affairs and damaging Egypt’s security. There were media reports that the Egyptian government is seriously considering a similar position to that of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain. According to Egyptian government statistics, about 135,000 Egyptians work in Qatar in different occupations, including medicine, engineering, law and the judiciary, in addition to professional disciplines in various projects including building and construction. Thus, it is hard for the Egyptian government to suddenly cut ties with Qatar and close the Egyptian Embassy there, according to Zainab Kheir, the director of the Egyptian Association for Economic and Social Rights. Speaking to Al-Monitor, she confirmed that the Egyptian government should think hard before taking such a decision and carefully study its implications. She added, “The interests of Egyptian workers must be protected if the embassy is closed, so that they don’t pay the price of strained political relations between the two countries. There are daily problems and transactions that require [Egyptian] workers abroad to go to their embassies. Also, we cannot guarantee that there won’t be acts of revenge against Egyptians in Doha as a reaction to the escalating political crisis. [We should avoid] a repeat of the crisis of the Egyptians in Libya, where they are being killed tragically.” Kheir pointed out that despite the presence of international conventions safeguarding the rights of migrant workers, Arab countries including Qatar did not sign many of these agreements. Moreover, she said that Qatar, like other Gulf states, still uses the sponsor system, which is akin to a system of forced labor and slavery. She added that there are reports confirming that Qataris are violating the rights and the humanity of Asian laborers, specifically in the preparations to build facilities and playgrounds for the FIFA World Cup 2020, set to be held in Doha. Despite all these abuses against migrant workers in Qatar, Kheir said Egypt is not ready for a crisis as major as having Egyptian workers expelled from Doha, due to Egypt’s difficult economic conditions. Abdul Wahab Khudr, the media adviser for the Egyptian Trade Union Federation and the editor of the Arab Workers News Agency, told Al-Monitor that the International Federation of Arab Trade Unions is considering removing Qatar from the presidency of the Arab Labor Conference scheduled to take place in Cairo in mid-April, in light of Qatar’s violations of migrant workers’ rights and the principles of the International Federation of Arab Trade Unions. This is because Qatar is refusing to establish a trade union that defends workers on its soil, he said, adding that Qatar does not adhere to international labor standards and conventions, so it should not be allowed to remain at the head of the Federation of Arab Trade Unions. According to Khudr, Rajab Maatouk, the secretary-general of the union of the Arab Labor Organization in Cairo, took steps to quickly reverse the decision to put Qatar as head of the conference, because Qatar does not respect workers’ rights and because migrant workers in Qatar are paid low wages. Khudr said that these workers are humiliated with employment contracts that do not respect international agreements, and Qatar makes no effort to protect their social and economic rights. “Qatar has a bad record with the Egyptians because of its role in the January 2011 and June 2013 revolutions. Qatar played a clear inciting role and sought to create confusion and support terrorist groups in Egypt,” Khudr said. He added, “After the positions of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, Egypt should follow suit and formally and immediately cut ties.” With regard to the concerns of the future of Egyptian workers in Qatar, Khudr said that if the promises of the government of Ibrahim Mahlab became reality regarding taking care of the workers and the plans to make new investments, then the Egyptian labor market would be able to absorb the Egyptians working in Qatar now. Kamal Abbas, the coordinator of the Services Trade Union Center, told Al-Monitor that so far Qatar has taken no action that adversely affects Egyptian workers, and that he received no complaints that Egyptian workers have been fired because of the strained relations between Egypt and Qatar. He stressed that Egypt has the right to do what’s necessary to protect its national security, and that there are international labor conventions and principles that force states to respect the rights of migrant workers regardless of the political tensions with their country of origin. Egyptian workers in Qatar are the only obstacle preventing Egypt from formally cutting ties with Doha, although relations have been effectively cut since the ousting of President Mohammed Morsi, Qatar’s nonrecognition of Egypt’s road map and in light of Egyptian rising anger with Al Jazeera Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/egypt-fears-repercussions-cutting-ties-qatar-gcc-decision.html#ixzz2x3yLcOIZ ==========================================