Egypt Court Sentences 75 to Death Over 2013 Protests

A court in Egypt has sentenced dozens of individuals involved in the anti-government protests and sit-ins of 2013 to death. This ruling includes 75 people, among them several senior members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood. According to reports from the Associated Press and German news agencies on Saturday, August 6, the Cairo criminal court's ruling is now referred to the Grand Mufti of Egypt, the highest religious authority in the country, for his opinion. Although the Grand Mufti has the power to annul the court's ruling, he typically upholds court decisions. The reports also quote the state media Al-Ahram stating that the verdict for another 660 individuals related to the bloody protests of 2013 has been postponed to September 8, corresponding to 17 Shahrivar. The defendants in this case total 739, including Mohamed Badie, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, and a journalist named Mohamed Abu Zaid, known as Shoukan, who was arrested during the summer of 2013 while covering the protests. Shoukan's name is not among those who received death sentences, but it is unclear what sentence he would face if convicted. UNESCO had previously honored Shoukan with the World Press Freedom Prize. Overall, those involved in this case face various charges ranging from murder to possession of military weapons and destruction of public property. These protests were organized by supporters of Mohamed Morsi, the ousted president of Egypt, who had been removed and imprisoned following a coup led by General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Security forces violently suppressed the protests on August 14, 2013, resulting in the deaths of over 600 people. A few months later, the Egyptian government labeled the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization and arrested many of its members and supporters. Some of Morsi's supporters have now been sentenced to life imprisonment.