Minya's Hanging Judge Strikes Again

The Egyptian court in Minya has struck again with a death sentence for 683 people, on top of the 529 previously sentenced in what was at the time, the largest death sentence in the history of the modern Egyptian judiciary. The Minya Criminal Court under Judge Sa‘id Yusuf seems determined to make a name for itself in any way possible. These sentences are being appealed (even the prosecution is appealing some of them) and death sentences require approval of the Grand Mufti. The country's international reputation, already declining, is in real jeopardy.

As I noted at the time of the earlier verdict, only four people were executed for the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat.

Though a newly elected President might find Presidential pardons a useful way to start his term, as well.