Protest at DC Egyptian Embassy Condemning Death Sentence For 529 Egyptians


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 25, 2014


Contact: Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK Co-founder, 415 235 6517, medea@codepink.org

Alli McCracken, CODEPINK Organizer, 860 575 5692, alli@codepink.org

Protest at DC Egyptian Embassy Condemning Death Sentence For 529 Egyptians


Where: Egyptian Embassy, 3521 International Ct NW, Washington, DC 20008

When: 12:00 noon, Thursday, March 27, 2014


Washington, DC –– CODEPINK and Egyptian Americans for Democracy and Human Rights will stage a protest in front of the Egyptian Embassy at noon on Thursday, March 27 to demand that the Egyptian government lift the outrageous death sentences for 529 Egyptians accused of killing a police officer. Activists will have large banners in English and Arabic and plan to deliver a petition with 10,000 signatures to the Embassy demanding that the verdict be overturned.


Since overthrowing the Morsi government in July 2013, the Egyptian military has killed over 1,000 people and jailed over 20,000, and is clearly targeting people based on political affiliation. Amnesty International has called this the largest group death sentence anywhere in the world in recent years.


“This grotesque ruling is a reflection of the thuggish nature of the Egyptian government that came to power in a coup,” says Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK. “This verdict makes a mockery of the rule of law and must be overturned immediately.”


“Only in Egypt can you try 529 people and sentence them to death in three days,” says Sam El-Hennawy, president of Washington DC Council of Egyptian Americans for Democracy and Human Rights. “The US government must stop supporting this disgraceful military coup.”


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