A court in Egypt has sentenced to death 529 supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. They were convicted of charges including murdering a policeman and attacks on people and property. The group, including top Muslim Brotherhood members, are part of a trial of over 1,200 Morsi supporters.

Authorities have cracked down harshly on Islamists since Mr Morsi was removed by the military in July. Hundreds have been killed and thousands arrested. The Muslim Brotherhood's general guide Mohammed Badie was among those convicted. They are expected to appeal.

The verdict now goes to Egypt's supreme religious authority, the Grand Mufti (a senior Islamic scholar), for approval or rejection, says the BBC's Orla Guerin in Cairo. Campaigners say that while death sentences are often handed down in Egypt, few have been carried out in recent years. The final trial session will not be held until 28 April. so there is some time left before the sentence is confirmed and there will be time to appeal in that period, our correspondent adds.

The Muslim Brotherhood's spokesman in London, Abdullah el-Haddad, told the BBC the sentences showed that Egypt was now a dictatorship. "It may be just a threat message and there will be appeals to the court and the decision of the court will change, but this is the new Egypt after the coup. This is the new dictatorship that [potential presidential candidate Field Marshal] Abdul Fattah al-Sisi is trying to establish."

"Mr Morsi was ousted by the military last July following mass street protests against his government. He is facing four separate trials. There has since been a severe crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood group, as well as on other activists seen as hostile to the military-backed interim government. The Brotherhood has been declared a terrorist organisation and authorities have punished any public show of support for it. A second group of 700 Morsi supporters is due to go on trial on Tuesday."

The pro-democracy movement is alive and well in Egypt. Good thing we helped oust that ruthless dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Thanks Barack! You really know how to solve the world's problems. It'll be a while before Egypt is able to right itself from all your help.

Quote: algernonpj wrote in post #3

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This is not so much a pro-democracy movement as:

Zitat

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Bernard Lewis, the renowned Islamic scholar, believes that at the root of the protests sweeping across our region is the Arab peoples’ widespread sense of injustice
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The Arab world has no concept of freedom or 'democracy' as we define it. They are quite comfortable with rule by Shura, councils of 'experts' or technocrats,
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/....aspx?id=209770

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That being said, the Egyptian authorities have more cojones than ours.

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So they want rule by cajones? Sounds about right to me.

May the person with the strongest cajones win!