The allegations raised by Human Rights Watch about the politicization of the Egiptian judiciary are "lies and false accusations," an Egyptian Foreign Ministry official said, accusing the organization of lack of political neutrality and overlooking the fact that the Egyptian judiciary is independent.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Human Rights Watch criticized the mass trials of the Muslim Brotherhood leaders, in which life sentences were handed to 37 defendants and death penalty to 14 others.
Reviewing the evidence against the defendants provided by the prosecution does not prove any criminal behavior on the part of the defendants, except for one testimony by a policeman, according to the HRW statement.
The Deputy Executive Director of the organization's Middle East and North Africa office Joe Stork said a peaceful advocacy of a political point of view or journalistic work for the same purpose should not be considered as crimes in any case.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
