Egypt issued 40 death sentences in one week

Military and civil Egyptian courts issued 40 death sentences against suspects in four different cases during one week, Quds Press reported yesterday.

On 12 December, Quds Press said, the Court of Cassation approved three death sentences against Muslim Brotherhood members. The suspects denied charges against them adding that they were tortured to confess to crimes.

Four days later, on 16 December, a military court in Cairo sentenced a female physician and a youth to death over claims of attacking guards of Niger embassy in Cairo. The court is slated to announce the sentence on 30 December.

The next day, another military court sentenced 14 people from Alexandria over claims of planting explosives in front of government offices, killing and wounding a number of citizens.

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Quds Press says that the Egyptian courts accuse the prisoners of joining a terror group, targeting private or public property, planning to assassinate security people or destabilising public safety.

The Muslim Brotherhood has described the death sentences as an “extension of an oppressive rule of an illegal ruler”.