Another 683 Morsi supporters to be on trial in Egyptian court

Cairo: An Egyptian court put the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood’s top leader Mohamed Badie and 682 others on trial on Tuesday on charges including murder, their lawyer said, dealing another blow to supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi. [caption id=“attachment_1449645” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Egyptian relatives of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi cry sitting outside the courthouse after the court ordered the execution of 529 Morsi supporters after only two hearings. AFP[/caption] The trial comes a day after the same court in Minya Province condemned 529 members of the group to death for murder and other offences, in what was described by rights groups as the biggest mass death sentence handed out in Egypt’s modern history. The majority of the defendants were tried in absentia while more than 150 stood trial in unprecedentedly rushed hearings that lasted only two days. Sixteen suspects were acquitted. The verdicts — and the extremely harsh sentences — are likely to be overturned on appeal, rights lawyers said after the trial ended in the city of Minya, south of Cairo. “This is way over the top and unacceptable,” said attorney Mohammed Zarie, who heads a rights center in Cairo. “It turns the judiciary in Egypt from a tool for achieving justice to an instrument for taking revenge.” “This verdict could be a precedent both in the history of Egyptian courts and perhaps, tribunals elsewhere in the world,” he added. Reuters and Associated Press