Egypt rejects EU criticism of Rabaa protest death sentences

Cairo has rejected what it calls the European Union’s “prejudiced” criticism of the death sentences handed down to 75 defendants in the trial connected to the Rabaa Al-Adawiyya protest camp. Protesters were dispersed violently by the Egyptian security forces in 2013; at least 1,000 people were killed and up to 4,000 were wounded in the assault by the army.

The European Union Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Security Policy stressed the EU’s “opposition to capital punishment in all circumstances” and its rejection of the death sentences. “The circumstances of this mass trial cast serious doubts on the respect of due process and in particular the defendants’ rights to a fair trial,” he added in a statement published on the EU External Action official website.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry responded on Wednesday by criticising a “repetitive approach from the European Commission to take prejudiced positions, and to issue absolute opinions driven by bias and deviation from the principles of the rule of law and respect for the judicial authorities.”

Read: Egypt sentences 75 to death, hundreds to jail over Rabaa sit-in

According to the ministry’s official Facebook page, Spokesperson Ahmed Abou Zeid defended the right of Egyptian institutions “to assume their powers in full as guaranteed by the Constitution and the law.” He urged the EU to respect “the principles of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, in accordance with the United Nations Charter.”

The EU made its comments following a court judgement on Saturday sentencing 75 people to death, 31 of them in absentia, on charges that included incitement to violence and damaging property in the case known as the “Rabaa sit-in’s dispersal” dating back to 2013. The verdict was condemned by international and Egyptian human rights organisations. The Egyptian government rejected this “unacceptable attack on the Egyptian judicial system and Egyptian judges.”

Protesters staged a sit-in after the military coup against democratically-elected President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Those on trial included protesters and journalists covering the events.