The Matay Criminal Court's decision on Monday to sentence 529 members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood to death has been hailed by some as a timely response to terrorist crimes, by others as a politicised verdict that flagrantly undermines the judiciary's reputation for impartiality, reports Gamal Essam El-Din. Critics also charge that the verdict was swiftly issued without following the necessary judicial measures of a fair trial. According to a statement issued on Monday by semi-governmental National Council for Human Rights, “judges took just two sessions to issue a harsh sentence without giving any consideration for the guarantees and requirements of a fair trial.” The Matay court — in the governorate of Minya — found 529 defendants of conspiring to murder Mustafa Al-Attar, the deputy chief of the Matay district police station, during riots which swept Egypt in the aftermath of August's violent dispersal of Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins in Cairo and Giza. They were also found guilty of the attempted murder of two other police officers, the arson of Matay police station, seizing police weapons and disrupting public order. During the attack Brotherhood activists stormed the Matay police station and opened fire on Al-Attar. When he was taken to hospital a Muslim Brotherhood doctor refused to treat the injured police officer and enabled others to enter his hospital room. 147 defendants were present for the hearing. The rest are on the run and were tried in absentia. Sixteen defendants were acquitted. The sentencing came against a backdrop of calls to accelerate the trials of Muslim Brotherhood officials facing murder and terrorism charges. The assassination last week of several army and police officers by Sinai-based Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis — an Islamist militant group which security officials say is allied to the Muslim Brotherhood — and widely reported attempts to incite violence on university campuses and in the streets has led to pressure for tougher measures to be adopted towards terrorist crime. On 15 March the newly-formed government of Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb ruled that attacks on army officers and buildings will henceforth be referred to military trials in accordance with article 204 of the constitution. “There is a growing awareness among politicians and ordinary citizens alike of the urgent need to stem terrorist crimes and accelerate the trials of Islamists facing terrorism charges,” says military expert Sameh Seif Al-Yazal. “The death sentences were issued by a civilian court and can be reversed on appeal by the Court of Cassation,” noted Al-Yazal. “The significant thing about this sentence is that it sends a strong message to Brotherhood officials currently facing trials on murder charges, and their affiliates who are planning terrorist crimes, that they could face the death penalty if they are found guilty.” Al-Yazal expected the Matay court to issue a harsh judgement but was surprised so many received the death sentence. “Minya was a hotbed of Brotherhood militants. We all saw how, following the dispersal of the sit-ins in Cairo and Giza Brotherhood and Gamaa Islamiya members stormed the Christian village of Dilga killing several residents. It is this context that explains why so many defendants were implicated in the Matay case.” Mohamed Hassanein Abdel-Aal, professor of constitutional law at Helwan University, anticipates the Matay court's ruling will be easily overturned. “It is easy to understand people being puzzled by 529 defendants sentenced to death for killing one police officer. Until the court gives the reasons behind its verdict I can only assume the judges have adopted the principle of collective punishment.” “It may be,” Abdel-Aal adds, “that the court decided all 529 defendants participated in inciting the well-documented violence and murder that took place following the dispersal of the Brotherhood's sit-ins last August. Under Egypt's Penal Code, and in Islamic sharia, inciting murder is treated just the same as the act of murder. No distinction is made between those who incite and those who kill.” “The death sentences were issued not because they killed a police officer but because, as far as I know, the court found the defendants had formed a group that sought to spread chaos by trying to kill as many police personnel as possible,” says Ezzat Al-Bakri, a former chairman of the Beni Suef Appeal Court. In a television interview on Monday night Al-Bakri told viewers “the court issued its verdict after it took just 48 hours to listening to witnesses and to lawyers of defendants who did their best to delay the trial process”. The Muslim Brotherhood and its allies have capitalised on the verdict to portray themselves as victims of an authoritarian state. The judgement caused consternation among Western media and human rights organisations, while the US State Department said the sentences were cause for grave concern. Abdel-Aal accused the American media of deliberately tarnishing the image of the interim government and the post-30 June political roadmap in Egypt. “Egypt's judicial authority,” he insisted, “has always shown itself to be independent and has never been manipulated by politicians.” Abdel-Aal argued that “the Cairo courts currently trying ousted president Morsi and other Brotherhood leaders are very careful and keen not to be manipulated by government officials”. The Matay Court has referred its sentencing to the office of the Grand Mufti who, under Egypt's Penal Code, must review death sentences. Any consideration of the judicial procedures that led to the sentencing, however, is outside the Mufti's mandate. Hafez Abu Seada, head of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR), told Al-Ahram Weekly that “this unprecedented verdict in Egypt's judicial history can be overturned as soon as defendants demand a retrial”. “Yes, there must be tough and timely measures taken against terrorist crimes but trials of those accused of such crimes must comply with international standards,” said Abu Seada. “The Court of Cassation is likely to conclude on appeal that the Matay court hearings were far too short to allow judges to read the case papers let along hear the arguments of the defence. As a result the verdicts will be overturned.” Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya described the Matay verdict as “clear proof of the collapse of the justice system in Egypt”. “This ruling will not dissuade the Egyptian people from staging peaceful protests against the military coup or pressing for a political solution for the country's crisis,” it added. Mohamed Touson, a Muslim Brotherhood lawyer, sharply criticised the verdict, arguing that “it gives a renewed proof that judges in Egypt issue politicised rulings.” Touson said the defence lawyers would lodge an appeal after they take note of the reasons behind the court's ruling. “This verdict is the first of its kind not only in the history of Egypt, but in the history of humankind as far as I know,” said Touson. Agreeing with Touson, Nasser Amin, a prominent member of the semi-governmental National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), said on his official Twitter account that “this court ruling will be overturned as soon as defendants demand a trial,” also arguing that the verdict was unprecedented. In its statement on Monday, NCHR said it was gravely concerned by the shocking verdict. NCHR warned that at a time the world is witnessing a decline in “death penalty” sentences, we are surprised by some Egyptian courts still insist on issuing a flurry of death verdicts. “The death penalty is a very harsh sentence and it goes against international human rights conventions which Egypt signed and vowed to implement.” Dozens of Brotherhood officials face trial on charges of that range from inciting violence and manslaughter and storming Egyptian prisons during January 2011 to spying for Hamas and other foreign intelligence agencies. They include Mohamed Badie, the group's supreme guide, who, alongside around 700 other Brotherhood activists, faces trial for inciting violence in Minya. On Tuesday, the court set 28 April as the date for a ruling on the case. Badie is accused of inciting Brotherhood activists to torch the police station of Al-Edwa — a district affiliated to the Minya governorate. The Matay verdict was delivered after Gamal Heshmat, a senior Brotherhood official currently in Qatar, announced an initiative for reconciliation with other revolutionary forces. Heshmat told Qatari-based Al-Jazeera that “the group is ready to take two steps back in favor of unifying revolutionary forces”. According to Heshmat, “the group has learned the lesson of Tunisia when Rashed Al-Ghannoushi, the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated prime minister, decided to cede power in return for political consensus… the question now is not whether president Morsi should be reinstated but whether a national consensus against the military regime in Egypt can be formed”. Heshmat's initiative has been dismissed by revolutionary forces as both unrealistic and illogical. Abdel-Ghaffar Shukr, a senior official of the group the Revolution Continues, told the Weekly that “if anything Heshmat's initiative offers renewed proof that the arrogance of the Muslim Brotherhood has yet to be tempered by its collapse and wholesale rejection by the public”.
