Egypt sentences 683 to death in mass trial

“My three sons are inside,” said a woman outside the court who only gave her first name, Samiya, as she screamed in grief. “I have no one but God.”

Another lawyer, Ali Kamal, said the hearing lasted only eight minutes.

Security forces surrounded the court building and blocked roads, preventing families and media from attending the proceedings.

“This is against the spirit of the law. The verdicts will be easily appealed,” Kamal told reporters.

The same judge, Said Youssef, last month sentenced 529 Morsi supporters to death but on Monday commuted the sentences of all but 37 defendants. The remaining 490 were given life sentences.

At the time, those rulings brought heavy international criticism from the United Nations, United States and European Union.

Amnesty International called them “grotesque” and Egyptian rights groups were stunned at the swift verdicts, passed after only one hearing—and without defense presenting its case.

Egypt's interim, military-backed government has branded the Brotherhood a terrorist group, a claim it denies.

Some 16,000 people have been arrested since the military ousted Morsi last July, including most of the group's top leaders. Large numbers of pro-Morsi protesters have also been rounded up and detained by police.