UN rights commissioner blasts Egypt’s 75 death sentences

CAIRO – The U.N. human rights commissioner says it will be an “irreversible miscarriage of justice” if the death sentences issued by an Egyptian court against 75 people, including top Muslim Brotherhood leaders, are carried out.

In a Sunday statement, Michelle Bachelet voiced concern over the sentences passed the previous day along with 47 life sentences in a case involving 739 defendants from a 2013 sit-in protest by supporters of an Islamist president ousted by the military.

She said the defendants were tried en masse and not permitted individual legal representation or to present evidence in their defence. The prosecution, she added, did not provide sufficient evidence to prove individual guilt.

The 739 faced charges ranging from murder and property damage to inciting violence.

Their sentences can be appealed.