The Muslim Brotherhood is seen as a terrorist group across many countries in the Middle East and elsewhere, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Russia. As the above link states, the Muslim Brotherhood was declared as a terrorist organisation in Egypt on Wednesday, December 25, 2013.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s logo
The article that I have picked for this week focuses on the death sentences to 529 of these Muslim Brotherhood members, and the pending trial of about 700 more. the 529 members who have been sentenced to death has caused outrage in the West, as the trial proceedings lasted just two days, causing the United States as well as the European Union to express concern over the fairness of the Egyptian courts.
Amnesty International called the death sentences “a grotesque example of the shortcomings and the selective nature of Egypt’s justice system.” Many other countries as well as organisations have stated their anger at the sentences too.
As the reading states, Egypt has been marred by corruption for much of it’s modern history, especially by the government as well as the upper class nobles. This shows that acts such as these death sentences are not completely out of the blue, however this is the “largest single batch of simultaneous death sentences we’ve seen in recent years, not just in Egypt but anywhere in the world.” This shows that there is a degree of surprise to the consequences that are occurring, as they are on such a large scale.
The issue of corruption desperately needs to be sorted out in Egypt, or else acts like this will continue. The power of the military and a small percentage of individuals have left the country in a poor democratic, social and political position, which could result in over 1,000 death sentences without fair trial over the next two months, with many other unfair sentences sure to follow.
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