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 Family members stood outside the courthouse screaming after the
verdict — the biggest mass death sentence handed out in Egypt's
modern history, defence lawyers said. Supporters set fire to a
nearby school in protest, state television reported.
Turmoil has deepened since the army overthrew Egypt's first freely
elected president, Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, in July.
Security forces have killed hundreds of Brotherhood members in the
streets and arrested thousands.
Most of the defendants at Monday's hearing were detained during
clashes which erupted in the southern province of Minya after the
forced dispersal of two Muslim Brotherhood protest camps in Cairo on
August 14.
Islamist militants have also stepped up attacks on the police and
army since Mursi's ouster, killing hundreds and carrying out high-profile operations against senior interior ministry officials.
"The court has decided to sentence to death 529 defendants, and 16
were acquitted," defense lawyer Ahmed al-Sharif told Reuters. The
condemned men can appeal against the ruling.
State television reported the sentences without comment. A
government spokesman did not immediately respond to calls.
"THE QUICKEST CASE"
The Muslim Brotherhood, largely driven underground, responded by
calling for the "downfall of military rule" on its official website.
Mohamed Mahsoub, who served as minister of legal affairs under
Mursi, described the court's decision "a ruling calling for the
execution of justice" on his Facebook page.
The sentences came days before army chief Field Marshall Abdel
Fattah al-Sisi was expected to declare his candidacy in presidential
elections. He is widely expected to win.
The charges against the group, on trial in Minya since Saturday,
include violence, inciting murder, storming a police station,
attacking persons and damaging public and private property.
"This is the quickest case and the number sentenced to death is the
largest in the history of the judiciary," said lawyer Nabil Abdel
Salam, who defends some Brotherhood leaders including Mursi.
The verdict was sent to the grand mufti, Egypt's highest religious
authority, for consideration, a judicial source said. The mufti's
opinion is not binding.
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HA Hellyer, an Egypt expert and fellow at American think-tank the
Brookings Institution, said he doubted the sentences would be
carried out.
"Nevertheless, the very issuing of the sentence itself is quite
significant," he added. ATTACKS
Only 123 of the defendants were in court. The rest were either
released, out on bail or on the run.
"When the trial starts on Saturday and it is just a procedural
hearing, and the judge doesn't listen to any lawyers or witnesses
and doesn't even call the defendants, you are before a group of
thugs and not the judiciary," Walid, a relative of one of the
defendants, said by phone.
It was not possible to confirm his account of the proceedings
independently.
The government has declared the Brotherhood a "terrorist" group. The
organisation says it is committed to peaceful activism.
Analysts say some of its members could turn violent if the state
keeps up pressure on the movement, which won the vast majority of
elections since an army-backed popular uprising toppled autocrat
Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Egyptian authorities make no distinction between the Brotherhood and
hardcore militant groups based in the Sinai peninsula who pose a
major security challenge to the state despite army offensives
against their fighters.
Mursi and other top Brotherhood leaders, who are on trial on a range
of charges, accuse the military of staging a coup and undermining
democracy.
The army says it was acting on behalf of the Egyptian people, who
took to the streets in their millions to call for Mursi's
resignation.
(Writing by Michael Georgy; editing by Andrew Heavens)
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