Editor's Note: The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Islamist Gate's editorial policy. Prefacing this article by saying that capital punishment is inhumane and repugnant is a must. In Egypt, though, the criticism of the recent initial mass death sentence against Brotherhood supporters has been deafening worldwide, which can be understandable, if it were objective.
The Minya Court verdict to sentence 529 Muslim Brotherhood members to death in the August 2013 events was met with overwhelming criticism worldwide. An exaggerated sentence, it is, no doubt—in fact, unprecedented.
Other than in mass massacres, at no time do 529 civilians end up receiving death sentences.
Still, the public, along with the media, needs to understand 1) how courts in Egypt apply the law and 2) the grounds for such a verdict.
First, of the 529 verdicts, 400 were in absentia. Media coverage sidelined this aspect. Though the Egyptian law, verified by Egyptian judges, does not stipulate the harshest sentence for absentia cases, it has become the norm to do just that for the following reasons.
First, the accused exhibited contempt of court by not showing up. Two, the judge based his decision on evidence presented by the prosecutor alone. Three, he who chooses to appear in court cannot be in a worse disposition than he who chooses to flee.
More importantly, the appearance of an accused in court after a verdict is announced in absentia revokes the verdict and reopens the case. At that point, the accused may have a new trial with all his legal rights. The judge then cannot increase the sentence: a fourth reason why the harshest sentence for absentia verdicts is preferred. The above may explain why all 400 charged in absentia received the death sentence.
From a different perspective, the reproach has been deafening worldwide, which can be understandable, if it were objective.
Every western newspaper announced the return of tyranny and dictatorship, alleging that the judicial system in Egypt is not the decision maker and that the "Deep State" is back. As though one officer is not too many, David K. Kirkpatrick's piece "Hundred of Egyptians Sentenced to Death in Killing of a Police Officer," in the NY Times, talks about the escalating repression that preceded the extraordinary verdict, the military-led government that removed President Morsi cowing the Brotherhood into near-silence, and the disregard to legal procedures, all this while considering the verdict a farce and illegitimate.
However, nowhere does Kirkpatrick tell the reader about the crimes committed. Even if the crimes do not equate the verdict, media should present the crimes behind such a verdict.
In a case of this magnitude it is difficult to pinpoint the offenders exactly, but let the truth be told, not in defence of the verdict, but in defence of justice.
Minya Governorate in Upper Egypt suffered the most after the Rabaa Square dispersal. Residents of Sahel Selim, Bani Ahmed, Delga, Matay, Deir Mawas, Malawi, Reeda, and other villages in Minya suffered at the hands of some if not all of those charged. So here are some of the actions that may have led to the verdict, exaggerated as it is.
First, and in random order, Banque Misr, Deir Mawas Branch, was stormed. In Malawi, the court was forcibly closed. The Malawi National Museum was ransacked and looted, whatever too heavy to pillage torched. Mummies were set on fire. More importantly, a ticket collector at the museum was shot dead.
Across the governorate 40 churches were torched and leveled. On paper the number doesn't construe much, but anywhere around the world vandalizing religious houses is a weighty crime because it is premeditated—to harm a group because of its religion.
The village of Delga was a scene of total mayhem whereby the government simply lost the fight. Morsi supporters drove the police out and occupied the police station. For a period, while many Copts fled, others had to pay to be protected.
A Copt was killed in his home, chained to a tractor, and dragged across the village. Priest Iskander Taous half-naked body was chained to a scooter and dragged around town, too.
Burned to the ground, the Matay police station in Minya suffered the most damage. Officer Karim Fouad was first beaten to death then dragged around Matay; I guess this is the officer media refer too while citing a single death and ignoring all the above.
Only when readers are provided with the whole picture can journalism be considered fair and objective. Only then.
