The legal decision announced on April 28, followed the March 24 conviction of 529 defendants on various charges, including membership of an unlawful organization Ikhwanul Muslimin (the Muslim Brotherhood), incitement to violence, vandalism, unlawful gathering and the killing of one police officer. All the charges related to events in August 2013 after the government of President Mohamed Morsi was ousted.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was alarmed by the news of the death sentence. "Verdicts that clearly appear not to meet basic fair trial standards, particularly those which impose the death penalty, are likely to undermine prospects for long-term stability," Bans spokesperson said in a statement issued on April 28.
In Jakarta, Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa stated his concern about the mass death penalty in Egypt. "With no intention of interfering with the domestic issues in Egypt, we are concerned about the death sentence given to 683 members of the Ikhwanul Muslimin recently as well as with the previous death sentence given to 529 of its members in March 2014," Marty said in a statement released by the Foreign Affairs Ministry on April 29.
Indonesia wished that law enforcement in Egypt can still be implemented according to universal values, with the presumption of innocence of the suspects being maintained during the trial, the minister noted.
"As a friendly country and the country with the largest population of Muslims in the world, Indonesia is closely observing the situation in Egypt with concern," Marty added.
According to the minister, Indonesia, which had experienced a similar political transition as Egypt, realized that the situation in Egypt is complex and believed that its government can solve its domestic issues in accordance to the interests and aspirations of the people.
"We also pray that the democratization process in Egypt will focus on the inclusive reconciliation spirit and wish that such a process will be run in a peaceful manner," Marty said.
Indonesian Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam shared Minister Natalegawas concern and hoped that Egypt will not easily sentence so many people to death.
"Its not a political issue, but its a humanitarian and a human right issue. It is not wise for a government to impose death sentences on hundreds of its citizens just because of political differences involving violence that relatively did not claim many casualties. This can become a serious human right issue," Dipo Alam said in a statement posted on the cabinet secretariats official website on April 29, 2014.
Indonesian NGO called the Humanitarian Community for Egypt (KKPM) previously urged the Indonesian government to condemn the mass death penalty.
"We urge the Indonesian government to condemn the violence against the civilian people in Egypt as well as in other parts of the world," Ahmad Zaki, the KKPM secretary general, said in a statement published on Hidayatullah.com.
On March 28, the KKPM members staged a rally at Hotel Indonesia (HI) circle denouncing the death sentence announced by Egypts court.
KKPM also called on all Muslims throughout the world, including Indonesia, to pressure the despotic rule in Egypt.
Meanwhile, an NGO called the Islam Nobility Preaching Council (LDKI) stated that the death sentence was a serious crime against humanity.
"Therefore, we strongly condemn the verdict of death penalty engineered by the despots," Yudi Raman, the LDKI chairman, said in a statement published on Hidayatullah.com on March 29, 2014.
LDKI urged the Egyptian military ruler to cancel the court verdict. It also mentioned the attack by the Egyptian military personnel on a peaceful rally in the front yard of Rabiah Al-Adawiyah mosque, which had injured more than 6,000 people, and the arrest of about 10,000 people within 24 hours.
The NGO urged the Indonesian government to invite other member states of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) to call for the release of the political prisoners in Egypt.
LDKI also appealed to all Muslims to pray for the safety and wellbeing of fellow Muslims in countries such as Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Egypt.
Another NGO called Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT) also strongly condemned the mass death sentences in Egypt, Kiblat.NET reported.
"We strongly condemn the death sentence against 528 Muslims in Egypt," JATs spokesman Ahmad Fatih said in a press release dated March 31, 2014.
JAT also urged leaders of the Muslim-majority countries to help stop the humanitarian crimes against Muslims in several countries, including Egypt.
At the international arena, Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, strongly condemned the imposition of the death penalty on hundreds of people in Egypt, after mass trials that she said clearly breached international human rights law.
"It is outrageous that for the second time in two months, the Sixth Chamber of the Criminal Court in Al-Minya had imposed the death sentence on huge groups of defendants after perfunctory trials," Navi Pillay said in a press statement read out by her spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani in Geneva.
She lashed out at the verdicts passed by a judicial system in which international fair trial guarantees appear to be increasingly trampled upon.
Egypt had ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. "It is high time that Egypt takes its human rights commitments seriously," she stated.
In a press release from her Office (OHCHR), Pillay stressed that the death penalty can only be applied for the most serious crimes and after the most stringent trial safeguards.
"This had clearly not been the case in these two trials before the Al-Minya criminal court. A mass trial of hundreds of people, rife with procedural irregularities was simply not good enough for the imposition of the death penalty," she reiterated.
Amnesty International in a statement recently said Egypts unfair trials and death sentences make a mockery of justice.
"Todays decisions once again expose how arbitrary and selective Egypts criminal justice system has become. The court has displayed a complete contempt for the most basic principles of a fair trial and has utterly destroyed its credibility. It is time for Egypts authorities to come clean and acknowledge that the current system is neither fair nor independent or impartial," Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International, said.
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Reporter: Fardah
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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