Judge behind string of Egyptian life sentence rulings announces latest devastating decision

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According to Freedom House’s Robert Herman, vice president of regional programs, “Egypt’s courts have become a tool of repression rather than a pillar of justice, as the life sentences imposed on Douma and his co-defendants make horribly clear. President El-Sisi and Egypt’s government should focus on building a democratic system rather than on repression that fuels turmoil.”

Freedom House, an “independent watchdog organization that supports democratic change, monitors the status of freedom around the world and advocates for democracy and human rights”, has followed this story very closely. Their latest press release is “in response to an Egyptian court sentencing human rights activist Ahmed Douma and 229 other defendants to life imprisonment for allegedly inciting violence and attacking security forces during demonstrations in 2011”.

Freedom House’s rankings reflect the decline of democracy in Egypt showing that the country is rated “Not Free in Freedom in the World 2015, Not Free in Freedom of the Press 2014, and Partly Free in Freedom on the Net 2014“.

The PBSNewshour also covered the crisis of Egyptian democracy in their latest broadcast where Borzou Daragahi of the Financial Times bureau in Cairo discussed the case of several Al Jazeera journalists sentenced to “seven to 10 years in prison on charges of helping the Muslim Brotherhood.” Australian journalist Peter Greste from Al Jazeera was only set free this past Sunday after 400 days in jail and has since called for the release of his two colleagues still being held. Take a look:

Also, the PBS Newshour published the article, Egypt sentences 230 people to life in prison for violent protests, by Larisa Lepatko. Take a look:

A court in Egypt on Wednesday handed down life sentences to 230 people for participating in the 2011 uprising that forced longtime leader President Hosni Mubarak to resign. All of the defendants were tried in absentia, except for activist Ahmed Douma, who is already serving a three-year sentence for leading past protests and for contempt of court.

The protests led to clashes with security forces and the burning of parliament and other buildings. Wednesday’s ruling can be appealed. “The harshness of the verdict is not a surprise to us, as the judge is driven by personal and political motives that shed light on the degree of impartiality of the Egyptian judiciary,” said Douma’s lawyer Mohammed Abdel-Aziz, the Associated Press reported.

The judge in the case, Mohammed Nagi Shehata, also presided over the death sentences of 183 out of 188 defendants charged with killing 11 policemen in Kerdasa in northern Egypt in August 2013. On Feb. 2, the court sentenced a minor to 10 years, acquitted two defendants and dropped the charges against two others who had died, according to the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper. Last summer, Shehata sentenced three Al Jazeera journalists to seven to 10 years in prison on charges of helping the Muslim Brotherhood.