GENEVA — The United Nations human rights office expressed "deep alarm" Tuesday after an Egyptian court sentenced 529 people to death, condemning the judgment as a violation of international law.
The "astounding" number of people sentenced is unprecedented in recent history, Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, told reporters in Geneva. "The mass imposition of the death penalty after a trial rife with procedural irregularities is in breach of international human rights law." A mass trial conducted over just two days "cannot possibly have met even the most basic requirements for a fair trial," he added.
A three-judge panel in the town of Minya, south of Cairo, reached the verdict Monday after two court sessions that each lasted less than an hour. The defendants — described by Egyptian state media as supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was ousted from power by the military in July — were accused of murdering a police officer in a riot last August.
The precise charges against each defendant were unclear because they were not read out in court, Mr. Colville said, and 398 of the defendants were tried in absentia even though some were in detention at the time.
Mr. Colville said defense lawyers claimed that they had not been given sufficient access to the defendants, and that the court did not consider "relevant evidence" they had presented.
The judgment was particularly worrying because the Egyptian authorities have arrested thousands of other defendants since July on similar charges, said Mr. Colville, who noted that the Minya court was pressing ahead with another mass trial. On Tuesday, 683 people who are believed to be supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood went on trial for charges of murder and inciting violence.
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