Egypt's eliminationism policy redux

[Jefferson23]

Mass death sentences represent a continuation of Egypt's eliminationist policy.


Last updated: 01 May 2014 08:54

In a speech delivered before tens of thousands of anti-coup protesters at Rabaa al-Adawiya Square last July, Muslim Brotherhood General Guide Mohamed Badie urged demonstrators to remain peaceful, even if violently attacked. He said, "Our revolution is peaceful, and it will remain peaceful... our peacefulness is more powerful than bullets... our peacefulness is stronger than (military) tanks, and we, with our peacefulness, are stronger than killing," among other decidedly peaceful declarations. Badie's speech highlighted his willingness to die for the cause and might be aptly described as non-violent.

On April 28, Badie was sentenced to death, along with 682 others, for incitement to violence in an incident that allegedly led to the death of a single police officer. The trial lasted just eight minutes and was condemned by Amnesty International as a "mockery of justice".

The shock of the mass death sentence was perhaps diminished slightly by the fact that Egypt's judiciary had already, in late March, sentenced 529 Muslim Brotherhood supporters to death in a separate court ruling. Until this latest ruling, the March mass sentencing had been the largest and fastest mass death sentence in modern world history.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/05/egypt-eliminationism-policy-redu-20145151839944753.html