26 March, 2014

A death sentence not just for hundreds of Islamists, but Egypt's democratic future | Magdi Abdelhadi | Comment is free | theguardian.com

A death sentence not just for hundreds of Islamists, but Egypt's democratic future | Magdi Abdelhadi | Comment is free | theguardian.com: Ever since the interim government in Egypt declared war on the Muslim Brotherhood and designated it a terrorist organisation, it has pursued a course of action that has swelled the ranks of the government's detractors, even among those who are sympathetic to its declared objective of suppressing the Islamist group.

The sentencing to death yesterday of more than 500 Brotherhood supporters on charges related to the violence that followed the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi in July last year belongs to that class of action: preposterously self-defeating.