Laura Dean reminds us that Egypt is currently imprisoning 15,000 dissidents beyond the 529 recently sentenced to death:
These days, conditions in Egypt are particularly bad. Detainees report an attitude of retribution for the humiliation and defeat the police felt after they were chased off the streets in January of 2011. “You have state institutions that have decided to take up the idea of final revenge,” said Emad Mubarak, Executive Director of the Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression. Students, journalists, former government ministers, doctors, professors, shopkeepers—all are represented inside Egypt’s prisons and police stations. Some of the detainees are under 18. Rights groups report that over 300 children have been detained in the past seven months. In some cases, police have been known to detain family members to pressure people to turn themselves in. “This is a normal thing…to take the father to get to the son” Mubarak said.
Lawyers have trouble gaining access to state security camps where some protesters are being held. Many have been tried without lawyers present. The prosecution is completely overwhelmed and hundreds of people often face the same blanket charges.
The Dish 