Death sentences issued by an Egyptian court against dozens of Palestinians have shocked Gaza in the wake of seeming appeasement between the Hamas movement and the Egyptian authorities last month.

The court delivered the verdict last week, in which deposed Egyptian president Mohammad Morsi and 128 defendants were accused of plotting jail breaks and attacks on police during the uprising that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Hamas said that several of those sentenced to death sentence are “martyrs and prisoners in Israeli jails, including martyrs Raed al-Attar and Taysir Abu Snimeh, and prisoner Hassan Salameh who has been in Israeli jails since 1996.”

Naim Abd al-Al, a Palestinian from the Rafah refugee camp who was sentenced to death by the Egyptian court, told Ma’an that he didn’t understand how his name was on the list, as he has never been to Egypt and has never left the Gaza Strip.

“I don’t even have a passport and was shocked when I heard my name on the execution list,” al-Al told Ma’an.

Abd al-Al, 38 years of age and a father of 8, said he does not belong to any faction and is an employee in the civil defense services.
He demanded the Egyptian judiciary system to verify the accusations before ruling “unjust sentences.”

Since Egypt’s military ousted president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, Egyptian authorities have accused Hamas of aiding militants who have waged a string of deadly attacks on security forces in the Sinai Peninsula.

Prosecutors in last week’s case said the defendants carried out espionage activity on behalf of the international Muslim Brotherhood organization and Hamas from 2005 to August 2013 “with the aim of perpetrating terror attacks in the country in order to spread chaos and topple the state.”

During Morsi’s presidency ties had improved between Cairo and Hamas, however his overthrow by current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s military led to a widespread crackdown on Morsi supporters. He and dozens of other leaders were then detained, while hundreds of his supporters were killed and thousands imprisoned.

Hamas has fervently denied Egypt’s accusations as an organized media campaign aiming to discredit the movement, beginning after a court order to list the movement as a terrorist organization in February.

The classification was later dropped in March, a move welcomed by Hamas leader Salah al-Bardawil who said in a statement at the time that he hoped this step is the first of many towards improving the relationship between Egypt and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Egypt’s court will pronounce a final decision regarding the death sentences on June 2. MAAN