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March 26, 2014

U.N.: Death Sentences for Morsi Supporters Violate International Law 
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The United Nations' top human rights official is calling Egypt's
sentencing of hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members to death an
unprecedented violation of international law. On Monday, 529 supporters
of ousted President Mohamed Morsi were ordered killed over the death of
a single police officer in protests last summer. The trial lasted just
over two days, with the majority tried in absentia. A spokesperson for
the U.N. high commissioner for human rights said the sentencing was
unprecedented in recent memory and outright illegal.

Rupert Colville: "We're extremely alarmed by this extraordinary case in
Egypt where 529 people were handed down a death sentence after a trial
that just lasted two days and then breached a whole range of basic fair
trial procedures. It's clearly in violation of international law."

 

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