Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News, 2014-03-25

Egypt is being criticized for a mass death sentence handed down by a court to 529 people.

Relatives were screaming and in shock moments after the verdict was announced. It's the largest number of people to be sentenced to death by a court in Egypt and world history.

The 529 people, many of them supporters of the ousted president Mohammad Morsi were accused of killing one police officer, seizing government weapons and damaging property when a police station in the town of Matai in Minya south of Cairo was attacked.

The incident happened last August, at a time Egyptian security forces carried out raids on two large anti-military protests sites in Cairo. Hundreds of people were killed leading to riots in other parts of the country.

Defence lawyers said they have been given no time to review trial documents.

When the verdicts and sentences were read out, the defence lawyer was banned from the courtroom. They criticized the ruling of presiding Judge Saeed Yousef.

"The trial was flawed and erroneous as out of the 118 defendants only 68 appealed before the court, while the rest were detained in Minya Central Prison," said Khaled el Komi, the lawyer for some of the defendants.

"The presiding judge turned angry and decided to hand down the judgement in two days time," added el Komi.

Lawyers said the courts decision had been too rushed.” We believe that the trials fairness which is a right enshrined in the criminal code was absent in this case," said Tarek Fouda, a lawyer in Egypt.

The verdict is seen as a sign of the governments widening crackdown on opposition voices especially on members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Mohamed Mahsoub, who served as minister of legal affairs under Morsi, described the court's decision "a ruling calling for the execution of justice" on his Facebook page.

Most of the defendants are from Upper Egypt, a conservative tribal area where blood feuds run deep, raising concerns that this verdict could lead to further instability and violence in the country.

Sahar Aziz a specialist on Middle Eastern law at Texas A & M University said the judgement is highly political and will likely deter any kind of criticism of the interim government by people in Egypt.

"I think this creates an appearance of impropriety and politicization of this trial and really questions whether there is an independent judiciary in Egypt," said Aziz.

They will have a right to appeal and it's reported that they will likely have this decision reversed, Although there is no guarantee…if it does get reversed, if it's sent back to the same judge, we don't know if the same outcome will be produced."

On Tuesday, the Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide, Mohamed Badie, and 682 others will face trial on charges of incitement to kill.

Turmoil has deepened since the army overthrew Egypt's first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, in July. Security forces have killed hundreds of Brotherhood members in the streets and arrested thousands.

(Twitter: @Faizie143)