Egypt court sentences 75 to death, hundreds to jail over Rabaa sit-in
Topping coverage of Egypt in the foreign press this morning is a court handing down death sentences to 75 people and prison sentences to hundreds more over the 2013 Rabaa Al Adawiya sit-in. More than 600 were sentenced to prison in a mass trial of some 739 people. Many in the foreign press, including the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal, are running an Amnesty International statement, which calls the ruling a “grotesque parody of justice.”
Attacking US aid to Egypt: Meanwhile, ABC News is taking note that Egyptian-born US citizen Moustafa Kassem was among those sentenced. It called into question the aid the US State Department unfroze aid to Egypt “despite Egypt taking no noticeable steps to address human rights issues.”
On a related note, photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, known as Shawkan, was sentenced to five years in prison in the same trial — and could now be released “within days” as he has been in detention since his 2013 arrest, Ahram Online reports.