By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa Al-Omrani | Inter Press Service

Cairo -- Egyptian courts have handed down unprecedented numbers of death sentences in recent months, most of them for violent crime. "Two hundred and thirty death sentences in six months", read the Jun. 24 headline of independent daily Al- Dustour. "Fifty in the last week alone".

The most high-profile case has been that of Hisham Talaat Mustafa, a high- ranking member of the ruling National Democratic Party,...