African Commission on Human Rights takes up case of 529 Morsi supporters sentenced to death following intervention of high-profile British lawyers
The Commission has written to the Egyptian authorities demanding they stay the executions pending further hearings.
It has also asked the authorities to answer charges that the trial which convicted the men and sentenced them in two short hearings was a "complete sham" and the sentences "collective punishment" and "completely arbitrary".
According to its findings, shown to The Telegraph, the Commission found a "prima facie violation" of the African Charter of Human Rights, of which Egypt is a signatory. In doing so, it agreed to hear arguments for both sides.
The Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, has taken up the case of the 529, who are accused of being part of a mob that rampaged through a town in Upper Egypt after protest sit-ins against the removal of Mr Morsi were violently cleared with hundreds of deaths.
In the melee, repeated in towns across Upper Egypt, Christian churches were stormed and burned along with public buildings, and a police officer was beaten to death in a hospital.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...
Posted By: Jen Fad
Thursday, May 1st 2014 at 10:12AM
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