For some reason.

The Egyptian army and the Brotherhood have been locked in mortal combat for more than sixty years. Put to a choice between the two, I would prefer the Army win and the Brotherhood lose.

"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable."

It won the elections, but never had the support of the deep state--the military, the police, the judiciary. You know, the folks who are now back in charge.

I think Egyptians made a mistake of historic proportions in forcing out the first democratically elected government in the country's history from power. They had a chance to make a democracy; instead, they killed it in its crib.

Egypt's "liberals," the Tahrir Square bunch, made a fatal error in demonizing the MB and embracing the thugs of the deep state. Where's your freedom and democracy now, liberals?

Anyway, Egypt has made its bed. Long live pharaoh.

The Brotherhood would never have surrendered office to an opponent on the ground of mere majority vote. That they did not have time to reach full flower is true, but their doctrines and programs are clear enough indication.

And how do you know what you claim? Are you channeling Karnak?

snip* For the first time, one of the five founders of the Tamarod, the movement that led the protests that ousted the Muslim Brotherhood last year, admits his movement was taking orders from the army. “We were naive, we were not responsible.”

April 15, 2014 at 2:23pm EDT

CAIRO — On the night of July 3, 2013, Moheb Doss stood looking at his television set in disbelief as a statement was read in his name on national television.

The words coming out of the presenter’s mouth bore no resemblance to the carefully drafted statement that Doss, one of the five co-founders of the Tamarod, or Rebel, movement had helped draft hours earlier. It was a statement to mark the moment of Tamarod’s victory, as the protests the group launched on June 30 led to the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood government just five days later. It was a statement, Doss said, that the group hoped would have a stabilizing effect on the Egyptian public, as it called for a peaceful transition toward a democratic path.

Instead, the presenter quoted Tamarod as calling for the army to step in and protect the people from “brute aggression” by terrorists during potentially turbulent days. The statement supported the army’s forcible removal and arrest of Brotherhood leader and then-President Mohamed Morsi, and dismissed charges that what was happening was a coup.


http://www.buzzfeed.com/sheerafrenkel/how-egypts-rebel-movement-helped-pave-the-way-for-a-sisi-pre

We have a word for people like you. People who think that sentencing over a thousand people to death, due to their political affiliations, in a faux trial where they have no representation, conducted by a military junta that seized power in a bloody coup.

We call these people "fascists."

And for better cause, too....

That must make you proud.

End of the day, you're still fawning over a murderous military junta that seems to enjoy condemning civilians to death by the hundreds in closed military "trials."

that the MB doesn't exactly have clean hands, snow-white innocence and a reputation for nonviolent political action...

Not sure what you're trying to insinuate here...

So thinly veiled insults aside, please enlighten me -- Are the MB supposed to be the "good" guys in this fight? Do you know something going on in Egypt that I don't?

You're engaging in a justification here. That places you in support of the junta's mass death sentencing.

No one says the Brotherhood is stainless - however, they've never convened military tribunals to condemn hundreds of people to death due to party affiliation. Nor did they seize power in a coup that killed eight hundred people, followed by another thousand murdered when they peaceably protested.

Thanks for your update about the grime under the brotherhood's left thumbnail, when we're talking about a junta that has blood up to its elbow. This is a critical piece of information that surely changes everything.

Morsi and his people would be conducting their own military tribunals and summary death sentences to eliminate political opposition had he survived the coup attempt...

I'm personally still trying to figure out Egypt (if I ever can)...Millions take to the street a year ago to demand Morsi's ouster and freedom from his heavy-handed tactics only to clear the way for a new regime which is probably worse...

As for "figuring out egypt," it's pretty evident - Morsi's government was facing protests, and the Egyptian military used those protests as pretext for their coup. Amazingly, protests don't justify the use of military force to overthrow the government and go on a murderous rampage against the ruling party and their voters.

so I guess we're both content then...

If the Egyptian people are unhappy with the current regime, I have no doubt they'll oust it...It's not like they don't already know how...

so is it possible the same will happen to many of those 600 sentenced to death now ?

So the previous farce spared 492 out of 529. That means only 37 people are still going to be executed with a fair trial and chance to defend themselves, while we're relieved that 492 are only going to be put into prison for life in a rather nasty penal system.

Truly, Lakoff would like the framing.

Same here, no doubt. We'll rejoice that of the 600+ only, perhaps, 50 or 60 will be executed based on government claims and the rest sentenced to prisons for life based on allegations.

It's been said that if your dog is hungry you can cut off its tail, cook it, and it'll be grateful to you for the food.

for an attack on a police station. The court also issued its final verdict on 529 people who were sentenced to death in an earlier trial, upholding 37 of the executions and commuting the others to 25 years in prison.

http://www.hrw.org/the-day-in-human-rights

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/04/28/4085574/white-house-deeply-troubled-by.html

White House ‘deeply troubled’ by mass death sentence in Egypt

MCCLATCHY WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON -- The White House said it is “deeply troubled” by the mass death sentence handed down in Egypt on Monday to the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and hundreds of other people.

The ruling by an Egyptian court condemned to death 683 members of the the April 6 Youth Movement and the Muslim Brotherhood, including the group’s supreme guide, 70-year-old Mohamed Badie, following a trial that lasted only a eight minutes. The same judge had sentenced another 529 people to death in a similarly speedy mass trial in March. On Monday, he commuted 492 of those sentences to life in prison and confirmed 39 death sentences.

The Obama administration, which recently signaled it is prepared to reinstate a billion dollar aid package for Egypt, said in a statement on Monday that the verdicts defy the most basic standards of international justice.

“The Egyptian government has the responsibility to ensure that every citizen is afforded due process, including the right to a fair trial in which evidence is clearly presented, and access to an attorney,” the statement said. “While judicial independence is a vital part of democracy, this verdict cannot be reconciled with Egypt’s obligations under international human rights law. Egyptian leaders must take a stand against this illogical action and dangerous precedent, recognizing that the repression of peaceful dissent will fuel the instability and radicalization that Egypt says it wishes to prevent.”

The White House urged the Egyptian government to end the use of mass trials, reverse the sentences, and guarantee due process. “A fair and transparent criminal justice system free of intimidation and political retribution is an important part of any democracy, and the Egyptian people deserve no less,” the statement said.

<smip>

It got beat up for supporting the MB after they won the election.

It got beat up for not being tough enough on the coupsters.

A lot of Egyptians don't like us now. Oh, well.

It's been a feckless policy, but I have to say I'm glad I'm not the guy who had to figure out how to respond.

One court condemned 683 more defendants to the gallows, making 1,100 Egyptians who have been convicted in the death of a single policeman. Meanwhile, no security official has been charged for the more than 1,000 civilians killed in July


Egyptians will go to the polls at the end of May to elect a president, but Monday brought a flurry of reminders that democracy is about more than what happens at the ballot box. The courts that are supposed to provide a check on executive power were showcasing their apparently complete alignment with Egypt’s security state.


The same Egyptian judge who last month sentenced to death 529 Muslim Brotherhood supporters condemned another 683 to the gallows in Minya, including the organization’s Supreme Guide, Mohamed Badie. Meanwhile, the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters banned the April 6 Movement, a grassroots organization instrumental in the 2011 revolution that Egypt’s military last year seized power ostensibly to protect.

The behavior of the Egyptian courts is giving human rights groups cause for great concern. “The reality is that on one side you have this legal system which is not fit for purpose,” says Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission in London. “Then you add the political pressures being borne on the judiciary, and you’re getting these sort of messages coming across… It’s absurd. The scale of the whole thing should bring fear into the international community.”

in full:http://time.com/79530/egypt-mass-death-sentence-courts-muslim-brotherhood/

You wonder why they bother with the pretext of a trial at all.