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Death sentences were handed down Monday to 529 supporters of toppled president Mohammed Morsi on the second day of proceedings in the biggest trial in Egypt’s history, judicial sources and state media reported.
They were found guilty of rioting and attacking police facilities in August in the southern city of Minya, state television said.
Judge Saeed Youssef acquitted a remaining 16 defendants.
Only 135 people were in custody, the rest were sentenced in absentia.
The judge issued the verdict during the second session of the trial without giving the defendants’ lawyers time to present a defence.
All defendants have the right to appeal.
The case opened Saturday with about 1,200 defendants from Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood group. The court divided the defendants into two groups. Another court session is expected Tuesday for the second group, which includes the Brotherhood’s top leader, Mohammed Badie, judicial sources said.
“This is a catastrophic sentence,” human rights lawyer Gamal Eid said. “Though I am certain the verdict and the case procedures will change during the appeal, today’s sentence will affect the judiciary in Egypt, and possibly in the whole world, for many years.” Eid, who heads the Cairo-based rights group Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, said it is hard to predict what will happen in Tuesday’s session given the “lack of reason seen today.” Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, was toppled by the army in July after mass protests against his one-year rule.
Hundreds of his supporters were killed in security crackdowns that followed his overthrow and thousands were detained.
They were charged with killing a police officer in the city, attacking the police station and seizing police weapons, the state-run al-Ahram newspaper reported.
The riots began after security forces dispersed two major pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo on August 14, which sparked unrest across the country.
In December, the military-backed interim government designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.
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