Egyptian court justifies mass death sentances by claiming accused are demons who follow Jewish scripture

For an Egyptian, which is rife with fanatical antisemitsim, the worst thing you can call someone is "a Jew." The current justification of mass death sentences by the Egyptian junta's court is bizarre to say the least.  There will probably be more episodes like this in the ongoing battle between the bad guys of Egypt's military dictatorship versus the even worse bad guys of the Muslim Brotherhood.

CAIRO (AFP) -- An Egyptian court that sentenced to death 37 Islamists and handed life terms to 492 others defended its verdict on Sunday, saying the men were "demons" who followed Jewish scripture.

The court in the central city of Minya had triggered international outrage earlier this year for sentencing to death hundreds of alleged supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in two separate mass trials which only lasted minutes.

In one trial in March 529 were sentenced to death for the killing of a police officer but the court later upheld the sentencing against only 37 of them, while the rest were jailed for life.

In a statement Sunday to justify its decision, the court said: "The accused came out of the depths of hell... to plunder Egypt's wealth, tyrannise its people and they killed the deputy commissioner."

It described the men as "enemies of the nation" who used mosques to promote the teachings of "their holy book, the Talmud," the central scripture of Judaism.