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Scandal of death sentences...Al Minya Criminal Court brands defendants as demons 'from the depths of hell' who promote teachings of Talmud

June 3, 2014 at 10:01 am

An Egyptian criminal court in Al-Minya that sentenced to death 37 Islamists and handed life terms to 492 others defended its verdict, saying the men were “demons” who followed Jewish scripture.

The court justified its ruling in the controversial verdict saying it convicted “demons wearing the mantle of Islam. Their holy book is the Talmud,” the central scripture of Judaism.

The court described the defendants as “devils who are the enemies of the homeland, who have used worship in the promotion of their ideology and the commandments of their holy book, the Talmud.”

The Minya Criminal Court sparked international criticism in recent months because of the death sentences it handed down to hundreds of innocent people because they rejected Al-Sisi’s bloody coup and supported the victory and legitimacy of President-elect Dr Mohamed Morsi, this during mass trials that lasted only a couple of minutes.

At the end of March the court handed down death sentences for 529 defendants, the following month the judge reduced the sentence for 492 of them to life imprisonment, and maintained the death penalty for 37.

The same judge then issued a new judgment in a second case in which 683 people were sentenced to death, including the General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohammed Badie, while these provisions are still waiting for ratification on 12 June.