Thread: BAD NEWS FOR OBAMA’S BUDDIES: Egypt Sentences 529 of the Muslim Brotherhood to Death

BAD NEWS FOR OBAMA’S BUDDIES: Egypt Sentences 529 of the Muslim Brotherhood to Death

By Clash Daily / 24 March 2014





CAIRO — A court in Egypt sentenced 529 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood to death Monday as part of a mass trial that highlights ongoing attempts to squash the Islamist movement.
More than 150 of 545 defendants stood trial on charges of killing a policeman and attacking police. The others were tried in absentia, the Associated Press reported.
Sixteen defendants were acquitted after hasty hearings lasted only two days, and defense lawyers complained they never had a chance to present their case in the trial held in the Upper Egyptian city of Minya.
The verdict precedes another case set to open on Tuesday in which nearly 700 defendants are facing similar charges.
“The trials are part of the raging battle between the military-led government and Muslim Brotherhood,” said Fawaz Gerges, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics.
Read more: USA Today


Read more at http://clashdaily.com/2014/03/bad-news-obamas-buddies-egypt-sentences-529-muslim-brotherhood-death/#Eq4SHhHjP73Og0dI.99


What our politicians worry???? They are totally protected in this country when we all start wearing burkas, and out rights are under the toilet maybe some of our countrymen will wake up!!!!

EPIC FAIL: Libya is a Disaster We Helped Create, Obama Just Walks Away

By Clash Daily / 24 March 2014





It’s called the pottery store rule: “you break it, you own it”. But it doesn’t just apply to pots and mugs, but to nations. In the build-up to the catastrophic invasion of Iraq, it was invoked by Colin Powell, then US secretary of state. “You are going to be the proud owner of 25 million people,” he reportedly told George W Bush. “You will own all their hopes, aspirations and problems.” But while many of these military interventions have left nations shattered, western governments have resembled the customer who walks away whistling, hoping no one has noticed the mess left behind. Our media have been all too complicit in allowing them to leave the scene.
Libya is a striking example. The UN-authorised air campaign in 2011 is often lauded as a shining example of successful foreign intervention. Sure, the initial mandate – which was simply to protect civilians – was exceeded by nations who had only recently been selling arms to Muammar Gaddafi, and the bombing evolved into regime-change despite Russia’s protests. But with a murderous thug ejected from power, who could object?
Today’s Libya is overrun by militias and faces a deteriorating human rights situation, mounting chaos that is infecting other countries, growing internal splits, and even the threat of civil war. Only occasionally does this growing crisis creep into the headlines: like when an oil tanker is seized by rebellious militia; or when a British oil worker is shot dead while having a picnic; or when the country’s prime minister is kidnapped.
Read more: The Guardian


Read more at http://clashdaily.com/2014/03/epic-f...wbU4q8L0zlu.99

Egypt sentences 528 Morsi supporters to death

Sarah Lynch, Special for USA TODAY11:30 a.m. EDT March 24, 2014


(Photo: Khaled Desouki, AFP/Getty Images)

CAIRO — Rights activists lashed out Monday at the death sentences handed down against 528 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood as part of a government campaign to squash the Islamist movement.

More than 150 of 545 defendants stood trial on charges of killing a policeman and attacking police. The others were tried in absentia, Egypt news agency MENA reported; sixteen defendants were acquitted.

The court hearings that convicted the defendants lasted two days.

Defense lawyers complained they never had a chance to present their case in the trial held in the city of Minya.

"This is the largest single batch of simultaneous death sentences we've seen in recent years, not just in Egypt but anywhere in the world," Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Amnesty International, said Monday in a report.

"Imposing death sentences of this magnitude in a single case makes Egypt surpass most other countries' use of capital punishment in a year," she added.

The verdict precedes another case set to open on Tuesday in which nearly 700 defendants are facing similar charges.

"The trials are part of the raging battle between the military-led government and Muslim Brotherhood," said Fawaz Gerges, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics.

"What these trials tell us is that the government has been systematically trying to weaken the Muslim Brotherhood and force them to accept the road map set by the military government."

Monday's ruling comes nearly nine months after the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi was ousted from the presidency . After millions took to the streets to protest against Morsi's presidency last June, Egypt's army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi forced Morsi aside and issued a political program that called for fresh parliamentary and presidential elections, which are expected to be held this year.

Security forces put down massive Brotherhood-led protests that followed Morsi's arrest. The Brotherhood was outlawed, and thousands of the group's supporters, leaders and members have been thrown in jail while others have fled the country.

Brotherhood supporters have continued some protests against the authorities although the numbers in the streets have dwindled. Polls have shown strong support for the military and its handling of the unrest, especially in the capital of Cairo.

Morsi opponents accused him of becoming a dictator and said he was ruining the promise of Egypt's revolution of 2011 in which longtime dictator Hosni Murbarak was also forced out by the military.

"What the trials say is that the military-led government has failed so far to basically force the Muslim Brothers to accept the status quo," Gerges said. "The trials really reflect the political stalemate that exists in Egypt."

The Muslim Brotherhood's London press office described Monday's ruling as an "inhumane and a clear violation of all norms of humane and legal justice" and said it will not weaken the group's resolve.

"The verdict is yet another clear indication that the corrupt judiciary is being utilized by the coup commanders to suppress the Egyptian revolution and install a brutal regime," it said in an emailed statement, vowing to appeal the ruling.

Monday's verdict can be appealed. H.A. Hellyer, a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution, said he doubts the death sentence will be implemented.

"This is a first stage court," Hellyer said. "There are others for the defendants to appeal to."

"But the issuing of the verdict in any case, even if it is almost certain to be overturned, is something to note when understanding what the legal system in Egypt is prepared to engage in when it comes to these types of cases," Hellyer said.

On Monday, a Cairo court resumed the trial of journalists with the Qatari-owned television network Al Jazeera. Australian Peter Greste, local journalist Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy, who is Egyptian-Canadian, appeared in court after being jailed for three months on charges of spreading false news and aiding the Brotherhood.

The trial was adjourned until March 31.

Al Jazeera Arabic reporter Abdullah Elshamy has been detained since last August without trial or charges.

"Without an independent and impartial process that can deliver truth and justice for all, many will question whether Egypt's criminal justice system has indeed anything to do with justice," Amnesty's Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said Monday in a report.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/w...rhood/6815899/

March 24, 2014
529 Muslim Brotherhood members sentenced to death in EgyptRick Moran

An Egyptian court sentenced 529 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death for murder, violence, inciting murder, and other charges. It is the largest number of death sentences handed down by a court in Egypt's modern history.

Reuters:

Family members stood outside the courthouse screaming after the verdict - the biggest mass death sentence handed out in Egypt's modern history, defence lawyers said. Supporters set fire to a nearby school in protest, state television reported.
Turmoil has deepened since the army overthrew Egypt's first freely elected president, Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, in July. Security forces have killed hundreds of Brotherhood members in the streets and arrested thousands.
Most of the defendants at Monday's hearing were detained during clashes which erupted in the southern province of Minya after the forced dispersal of two Muslim Brotherhood protest camps in Cairo on August 14.
Islamist militants have also stepped up attacks on the police and army since Mursi's ouster, killing hundreds and carrying out high profile operations against senior interior ministry officials.
"The court has decided to sentence to death 529 defendants, and 16 were acquitted," defence lawyer Ahmed al-Sharif told Reuters. The condemned men can appeal against the ruling.
State television reported the sentences without comment. A government spokesman did not immediately respond to calls.
The Muslim Brotherhood, largely driven underground, responded by calling for the "downfall of military rule" on its official website.
Mohamed Mahsoub, who served as minister of legal affairs under Mursi, described the court's decision "a ruling calling for the execution of justice" on his Facebook page.
The sentences came days before army chief Field Marshall Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was expected to declare his candidacy in presidential elections. He is widely expected to win.
The charges against the group, on trial in Minya since Saturday, include violence, inciting murder, storming a police station, attacking persons and damaging public and private property.
"This is the quickest case and the number sentenced to death is the largest in the history of the judiciary," said lawyer Nabil Abdel Salam, who defends some Brotherhood leaders including Mursi.
The verdict was sent to the grand mufti, Egypt's highest religious authority, for consideration, a judicial source said. The mufti's opinion is not binding.

Few experts believe that al-Sisi is dumb enough to make 529 instant martyrs for the Brotherhood's cause, so expect most of those sentences to be commuted. Still, that many death sentences after only a 3 day trial? If only the military could get the economy working that efficiently.
I have no sympathy at all for the MB, but we've seen this movie before. The Brotherhood is banned, they go underground, they organize, they grow in strength, the government eventually relents and allows them to operate...
And then the same thing happens that happened after Mubarak was overthrown; they get elected overwhelmingly. The only way this scenario will be different is if the military relinquishes power and allows secular parties to form and develop.
Don't bet on that, however. Any non-military party that comes to power will make it the first order of business to reform the military. The generals will never allow that which means the likelihood of weak secular parties and dictatorial rule will continue.




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