Voices are mounting for the Egyptian authorities to cancel or commute the death sentences against 12 people - including leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood - in the case known in the media as the "Rabaa sit-in dispersal".
Protesters demonstrated in front of the Egyptian Consulate in New York to denounce the recent death sentences in Egypt, and a number of Egyptians organized a vigil in Istanbul for the same purpose.
The demonstrators in New York expressed their rejection of the Egyptian authorities' use of the death penalty as a political tool against their opponents, and called on the administration of US President Joe Biden to pressure to prevent its implementation.
The demonstrators raised Egyptian flags and pictures of members of the Muslim Brotherhood, and stressed that they would continue to move to educate the American people about what is happening in Egypt of human rights violations and suppression of the political opposition, as they put it.
In a related context, a number of Egyptians in Istanbul organized a protest against the recent death sentences that were upheld against the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
The participants chanted, calling for retrials and an end to human rights violations in Egypt, and appealed to the international community to intervene to stop what they described as the unjust sentences.
Over the past few days, the communication platforms have resonated with the tweets of activists and human rights activists under the hashtag "Stop the Executions", denouncing the death sentences in Egypt, and calling for finding compromise solutions that do not lead to more physical liquidation of opponents inside Egypt through politicized trials, as they described.
Rights Claims
In a related context, the British law firm, Bindmans, published part of the letter signed by lawyer Tayeb Ali of the Freedom and Justice Party (the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt) to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights regarding the Egyptian authorities’ decision to execute 12 Egyptians, including leaders in Brotherhood.
Latest news: African Commissioned petition to intervene in imminent executions of twelve men following 'shameful' trials in Egypt
The Freedom and Justice Party are represented by @tayab_ali_, Partner at Bindmans LLP
Read the full article here: https://t.co/LcZOFDtf1V pic.twitter.com/OQnjsjw5oh
— Bindmans LLP (@BindmansLLP) June 18, 2021
The letter stated a demand for urgent measures on the part of the African continent to prevent these executions.
Yesterday, Saturday, Human Rights Watch called on the Egyptian authorities to commute the death sentences in the case known in the media as the “Rabaa sit-in dispersal.”
This came in a statement by the New York-based non-governmental organization, days after the highest appeals court in Egypt confirmed the death sentence of 12 people, including Brotherhood leaders, most notably Mohamed El-Beltagy, Abdel-Rahman El-Bar and former minister Osama Yassin.
The Egyptian authorities did not comment on the statement of the international organization, and usually confirm that its judiciary is independent and impartial and does not issue judgments based on political positions or differences.
And last Monday, the Court of Cassation upheld a death sentence for the 12, while commuting the sentence against 32 others from death to life imprisonment (25 years), and ruled that the case against the late leader Essam El-Erian, who died in custody in August 2020, in the case known as "" Rabaa sit-in dispersal.
On August 14, 2013, army and police forces dispersed two sit-ins for supporters of the late President Mohamed Morsi in Rabaa al-Adawiya and al-Nahda squares, after the army ousted him from his post in July of the same year.
The dispersal of the two sit-ins resulted in 632 deaths - including 8 policemen - according to the (governmental) National Council for Human Rights in Egypt, while local and international (unofficial) human rights organizations said that the number of victims exceeded this figure.