DEATH SENTENCES FOR MORE THAN 500 PEOPLE IN ONE VERDICT.
IT SOUNDS TOO EXTREME TO BE TRUE.
BUT IT HAPPENED IN EGYPT.
AND IT'S A DECISION BEING CONDEMNED BY LEGAL AND RIGHTS
GROUPS AROUND THE WORLD.
THE ACCUSED ARE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD SUPPORTERS, CONVICTED OF KILLING A POLICEMAN LAST AUGUST
ALONG WITH OTHER VIOLENCE.
VOA CAIRO CORRESPONDENT ELIZABETH ARROTT SAYS THE
CASE REFLECTS EGYPT'S DEEP DIVISIONS.
RIGHT, IMRAN.
AND WHEN I TALKED TO ELIZABETH ABOUT THIS VERDICT AND HERE'S A CLIP FROM OUR CONVERSATION.
ELIZABETH, REALLY BIG STORY THAT WE'VE SEEN RECENTLY COMING OUT OF EGYPT.
THIS SENTENCING OF 529 PEOPLE TO DEATH.
WHAT'S BEEN THE RESPONSE AMONG EGYPTIANS TO THIS AND TO
REALLY WHAT HAS BEEN A WIDESPREAD CRACKDOWN ON THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD?
IT WAS VERY VERY MIXED, MUCH LIKE EGYPT ITSELF...
VERY DIVIDED BETWEEN THOSE WHO APPROVE OF WHAT THE GOVERNMENT HAS DONE SINCE THE OUSTING
OF ISLAMIST PRESIDENT MOHAMED
MORSI OF THE BROTHERHOOD LAST YEAR AND THIS MASSIVE MASSIVE CRACKDOWN.
LARGELY, SUPPORTERS WERE SAYING 'GOD FOR THE JUDICIARY TO ACT SO QUICKLY' AND YOU KNOW,
PUTTING
PEOPLE IN THEIR PLACE AND OF COURSE FROM THE OTHER SIDE, NOT JUST MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD SUPPORTERS
BUT EVEN MEMBERS OF EGYPT JUDICIARY WHO LOOK AT THIS CASE AND OTHER CASES,
BUT PARTICULARLY THIS ONE, HOW QUICKLY ...WITH ANY LACK OF THE DEFENSE REPRESENTATION, AFTER
JUST SECOND SESSION, YOU KNOW, TO COME DOWN WITH THESE VERDICTS, REALLY
APPALLED AND OUTRAGED.
IN CAIRO, WHERE SUPPORT REMAINS STRONG FOR THE CRACKDOWN AGAINST SUPPORTERS OF OUSTED
PRESIDENT AND BROTHERHOOD FIGURE MOHAMED MORSI, MANY WERE PLEASED WITH THE DECISION.
"THIS IS GOOD BECAUSE IT IS THE FIRST TIME WE SEE OUR JUDGES ACT SO QUICKLY, BECAUSE
THIS WAS THE SECOND SESSION."
BUT SUCH SWIFT ACTION AGAINST MORSI SUPPORTERS -- COMPARED TO THE DRAGGED OUT CASES OF PRE-REVOLUTIONARY
OFFICIALS -- LEFT OTHERS ANGRY.
"SO WHY HASN'T MUBARAK BEEN GIVEN THE DEATH PENALTY?
WHY HASN'T EL-ADLY BEEN GIVEN THE DEATH PENALTY?
AND GENERALLY SPEAKING, HOW ARE MEMBERS OF THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD BEING TREATED RIGHT
NOW IN EGYPT BY THE GOVERNMENT?
OF COURSE, THEY DID LABELED LAST YEAR THE ORGANIZATION A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION, SO
IT IS VERY VERY DIFFICULT, I MEAN THERE ARE A THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF MUSLIM
BROTHERHOOD MEMBERS IN JAIL.
LOT OF THE PEOPLE HAS NOT COME TO COURTS SO THEY ARE SORT OF LANGUISHING AT THIS POINT.
PROTESTS ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO ORGANIZE.
THEY STILL DO
COME OUT, BUT IT'S NOT IN THE NUMBERS WE SAW RIGHT AFTER ALL OF THIS CAME AND PART OF THIS
BECAUSE THEY ARE BACKED UP, PART OF IT IS BY LEGAL RESTRICTIONS ON GATHERING.
BUT
ALSO JUST THERE IS A CERTAIN SENSE OF FUTILITY OF JUST BY PROTEST AND IT'S VERY DIFFICULT
TO FIGURE OUT WHERE THIS WILL GO NEXT.
AND THIS HAS TO RAISE A LOT OF QUESTIONS AMONG THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AS WELL.
HOW HAVE OTHER COUNTRIES RESPONDED?
O WE'VE SEEN CONDEMNATION ACROSS THE BOARD.
IT'S NOT CLEAR WHAT CAN ACTUALLY BE DONE.
THE U.S. HAS LOOKED AT ITS AID POLICY IN RELATIONS TO THAT.
BUT THEY DID QUALIFY
THAT ON WHETHER OR NOT THESE SENTENCES WILL BE CARRIED OUT.
IT SHOULD BE NOTED NOBODY REALLY DOES THINK THAT THEY WILL BE, YOU KNOW, ACTUALLY, AT
LEAST NOT ALL FIVE HUNDRED
AND NEARLY THIRTY BE CARRIED OUT.
MOST OF THEM WERE TRIED IN ABSENTIA, BUT THE ABSOLUTE LEGAL SKETCHINESS ON WHICH IT WAS
BASED, PROBABLY WILL NOT ON APPEAL.
RIGHT.
SO THE MILITARY GOVERNMENT HAS OBVIOUSLY BEEN FOCUSING A LOT ON TARGETING THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
BUT WHAT ARE SOME OF THE OTHER CHALLENGES?
I MEAN IS THIS REALLY
ENOUGH FOR THEM TO HOLD ON TO POWER IN A WAY THEY'VE BEEN TRYING TO?
IT CERTAINLY IS A MAJOR CHALLENGE TRYING TO KEEP ALL, NOT JUST THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD,
BUT OTHER OPPOSITION AT BAY AND THEY ARE PUTTING SO MUCH EFFORTS IN THAT, BUT AS WE
SAW WHEN SISI ANNOUNCED HIS PRESIDENCY, HE ASKED FOR PATIENCE, HE SAID HE IS NOT A MIRACLE
WORKER AND THAT ACTUALLY MIGHT BE EVEN MORE OF A CHALLENGE FOR HIM.
BY THE
SUMMER, THE NEXT COUPLE OF MONTHS WHEN IT GETS HOTTER AND THERE IS LESS ELECTRICITY,
THERE IS A HUGE SHORTAGE OF LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS AND OTHER FUEL.
AND WHEN YOU SEE THAT, WHEN YOU SEE CONDITIONS HAVING WORSENED, THAT ALSO HAS TO RAISE A
STRONG QUESTION ABOUT WHETHER THIS DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION ARE BEING SUCCESSFUL?
DID
IT REALLY SUCCEED IN THE WAY THAT IT WAS HOPED...
AND SO I MEAN YOU ARE LIVING IT SO WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?
I THINK YOU GO BACK TO ORIGINAL CRY OF THE 2011 REVOLUTION: BREAD, FREEDOM, DIGNITY.
AND REALLY ON ALL THREE COUNTS THERE HAVE NOT BEEN MARKED IMPROVEMENT.
I MEAN, I THINK
IN SOME TERMS DIGNITY, PEOPLE DO FEEL THE RIGHT THAT THEY ARE ABLE TO COME OUT AND SPEAK
AND THAT HAS HELPED A LOT EVEN, OF COURSE, FOR A LARGE SEGMENT THAT'S SLIPPED BACK
SINCE THEN.
BUT THE BASIC DEMANDS OF THE REVOLUTION HAVE NOT BEEN MET BY, I THINK, BY ANYBODY'S COUNT.
THANKS AS ALWAYS TO ELIZABETH ARROTT IN CAIRO.
NOW IN WHAT HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH IS CALLING "ONE MORE NAIL IN THE COFFIN FOR EGYPT'S REVOLUTION,"
AN APPEALS COURT HAS UPHELD
THE SENTENCES OF THREE LIBERAL LEADERS OF THE 2011 UPRISING.