Where is the justice?

In Egypt, more than 680 people have been sentenced to death following a trial that lasted only a few minutes. These people, the majority of whom are part of a Muslim brotherhood, have been accused of being connected to the killing of a single police officer during a riot last summer. Despite the lack of concrete evidence, at least one member of every extended family has been charged with this crime in the town of Edwa, a move by the Egyptian government that many people are viewing as a public threat to Muslim radicals.

This mass death sentence is the second one given by the same court over the course of merely a month. Of the hundreds sentenced to death in the ruling last month, 37 were confirmed and 492 were transferred to life in prison.

The fact that this is the second time such a massive death sentence has been issued in the space of a single month is unthinkable. At this rate, a violent, bloody civil war is almost inevitable.

While most of the people of Edwa are unspeakably enraged by this unjustified act by the government and the apathy of the police officers who know that many people have been wrongly accused, some residents remain quiet, maintaining that it is the decision of the Egyptian judicial system, which must be trusted. How can it be that in the face of such an inhumane, savage action some people still believe they must trust the government? This shows how brainwashed the people have become under a corrupt government. In the words of the White House, the ruling "defies even the most basic standards of international justice."

But if we really think about it, is our own justice system really that much different?

Yes, it is true that we don't sentence massive amounts of people to death at once without lack of clear evidence and without any efforts to find plausible cases. But our hands aren't exactly squeaky clean either in terms of court rulings. I have had the privilege of sitting through a trial at a local court in which the judge actually fell asleep. The judge would not make an effort to listen carefully to the evidence laid forth by both sides, pay attention to the witness testimonies, or rule on objections from the attorneys of either side. At the end of the trial, the judge took a mere 3 minutes to decide the case and give the ruling.

The sad reality is that that wasn't the only case of a mistrial that we've had in this country. People need to be more aware that our justice system is becoming more corrupt as time goes on. If things continue on like this, will there be a day in the future when justice is no longer even in the courts of the world's nations anymore? We cannot let that happen.