Egypt confirms mass death sentences

Human rights groups have condemned the death sentences handed to 183 men in Egypt, convicted of killing 13 policemen.

(AAP)

(File: AAP)

An Egyptian court has confirmed death sentences against 183 men convicted of killing 13 policemen, in a verdict the European Union denounced as a violation of the country's human rights obligations.

The verdict came as another court announced that deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi would stand trial on February 15 in an espionage case - the fourth trial he is facing.

The policemen were killed in an attack on a police station in Kerdasa, a town on the outskirts of Cairo, on August 14, 2013.

The attack took place on the same day that security forces killed hundreds of demonstrators in clashes as they dismantled two massive protest camps in Cairo supporting Morsi.

The court had in December issued a preliminary verdict against 188 defendants in a mass trial, of whom two were acquitted on Monday while one, a minor, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Two more were already deceased.

Monday's verdict, which can be appealed, came after the initial sentences were sent to the grand mufti, the government's official interpreter of Islamic law, for ratification.

Since the army deposed Morsi on July 3, 2013, at least 1,400 people have been killed in a police crackdown on protests, mostly Islamists supporting the ousted leader.

Hundreds of his supporters have been sentenced to death in swift mass trials which the United Nations says were "unprecedented in recent history".

"Today's decision of a court in Egypt to sentence 183 defendants to death following a mass trial is in violation of Egypt's international human rights obligations," the EU's foreign service said in a statement, reiterating the bloc's categoric opposition to capital punishment.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the United States was "deeply concerned" by the decision.

Rights group Amnesty International said the decision was "outrageous" and "an example of the bias of the Egyptian criminal justice system".

Rights groups and critics of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former army chief who ousted Morsi, say authorities are using the judiciary as an arm to repress any form of dissent.

Morsi and several top leaders of his blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood are in custody and facing several trials on charges punishable by death.


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