UN Human Rights Office disturbed Over Mass Death Penalty In Egypt

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was “deeply alarmed” by Monday’s death penalty imposed by an Egyptian court on 529 supporters of former President Mohamed Morsi following a mass trial.Deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq said at a daily news briefing on Tuesday that the high number of people sentenced to death is “unprecedented in recent history”.”The mass imposition of the death penalty after a trial that was rife with procedural irregularities is in breach of international human rights law,” said Haq.”It is particularly worrying that there are thousands of other defendants who have been detained since last July on similar charges,” he said.The 529 defendants were convicted by the Minya Criminal Court in south Egypt of killing a police officer over the ouster of Morsi in July 2013, among other charges.