Egyptian judge sentences 720 men to death

Fears for Egypt's democracy deepened on Monday when a judge sentenced 683 men to death in the country's latest mass trial, while another banned a youth movement that helped inspire Egypt's 2011 revolution.

The 683 men – including the Muslim Brotherhood leader, Mohamed Badie – were condemned to death in the southern city of Minya on charges of killing a policeman last August.

In a similar but separate case, the same judge then upheld the death sentences of 37 of 529 men he notoriously ordered to hang last month, bringing the total number of death sentences to 720. The remaining 492 had their sentences commuted to 25-year jail terms. All cases are subject to further appeals.

Lawyers and rights campaigners said the sentences in the two mass trials resulted from rushed proceedings that infringed basic local and international law.

Mohamed Elmessiry, an Amnesty International researcher who attended the hearings, said: "In each trial, the defence were not able to present their case, the witnesses were not heard, and many of the accused were not brought to the courtroom. This lacks any basic guarantees of a fair trial – not only under international law, but also Egyptian national law.

"The trials themselves are a death sentence to any remaining credibility and independence of Egypt's criminal justice system."

Amnesty has previously said the 529 case was the largest batch of simultaneous death sentences in the world in living memory – a record now beaten by Monday's developments.

Both cases form the latest instalment of a government crackdown in which at least 16,000 people have been arrested and more than 2,500 killed since the removal of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi as president last July.

A spokesman for the 6 April youth group, Ahmad Abd Allah, said the banning of the group highlighted the extent of Egypt's counter-revolution.

"It shows that it's not just the Islamists who are being targeted, it's also liberal groups like us. And [the government] will continue all the way to close down all democratic forces," Abd Allah said. "And it's just the beginning."

Prosecutors said the defendants in both court cases were Brotherhood members who collectively killed two police officers during an explosion ofnationwide violence last August. The 529 defendants were found guilty of lynching a policeman in Matay, in Minya province. On the same day, the 683 others are said to have killed an officer in the nearby town of Adwa.

But many of the defendants in both trials say they were not present during the attacks, and some say they are not even supporters of the Brotherhood but were reported to the police by informants acting on personal agendas.

"There is nothing against me – no one has any evidence that I was there on that day," said Hagag Saber, a 34-year-old government electrician who was one of the 683 sentenced to death for the Adwa killing. Currently at large, he claims he was in Cairo the day the attacks happened.

"There is no justice or integrity, nothing based on facts. Everything is based on an illegitimate investigation that took hearsay from people in the street," Saber said.

His lawyer, Mohamed Abd-El Fatah Ali, showed the Guardian roughly 6,000 pages of court documents from the case and argued that the judge could not have had time to read them.

"There's no human who could read this amount of newspaper pages, let alone legal documents containing testimonies, in order to find the paragraph that relates to this case and these defendants in the time allowed," said Ali, who was fined by the judge and referred to court himself for boycotting an earlier session. "That would take three months."

Families alleged that some defendants were not even mentioned in the documents. One of Ali's lawyer colleagues, Ahmed Eid, was arrested because of personal differences with policemen, his family claimed. Previously a defence lawyer in the 529 case, Eid joined his clients in jail after the case had officially been referred to court.

His wife said police arrested Eid because he had failed to pay them a bribe, and that investigators – with whom he was in daily contact on behalf of his clients – had never previously suggested he was involved in the case.

Eid, a supporter of the former dictator Hosni Mubarak, is one of several men who say they are unaffiliated with the Brotherhood but are among those sentenced. Another is the cleric Ahmed Korany – despite his family providing written testimony to the court from witnesses who said he was not involved in the crimes.

Korany's lawyer, Ahmed Shabib, said: "It's very well known that he was against the Brotherhood, so I was so surprised to see him among the defendants."

In passing the sentences, the judge, Saeed Youssef, ignored an international campaign in which more than 1.5 million people signed a petition hosted by the online activists Avaaz calling for a re-trial.

But in Egypt the outcry has not been universal. Many saw the 529 death sentences as a fitting revenge on the Brotherhood, who are blamed for awave of militancy across Egypt in recent months. "The outrage over the conviction of 529 terrorists is in itself an outrage," summarised one commentator in a state-run newspaper this month.

After the 529's initial sentences in March, Egypt's foreign ministry released a statement defending the court's integrity. "The sentence was issued by an independent court after careful study of the case," the statement read.

The 683 death sentences will now be referred to Egypt's Grand Mufti, a senior Muslim cleric, for his opinion. The 529 from the second case will be referred to an appeal court, since the mufti has already been consulted on their sentences. In an odd aside, the judge recommended that the prosecution seek the reinstatement of the death penalty for the 492 whose sentences were commuted.

Judicial experts said the case was unlikely to have been expressly ordered by a central figure, such as Egypt's influential army chief, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. Nathan Brown, a professor at George Washington University, and an expert on the Egyptian judiciary, told the Guardian last month: "I think it is more a matter of a common mentality than direct co-ordination. Indeed, the court here has gone so far that it is difficult to see that it serves the interest of the regime.

Anti-EU vote could rise above 30% in European elections, says thinktank

Flags of European Union member states fly in front of the European parliament building in Strasbourg. Photograph: Vincent Kessler/Reuters

Anti-EU parties could win more than 30% of the vote across the continent in the European elections, according to calculations by the Open Europethinktank, up from 24.9% on the vote in 2009.

The calculation – challenged by other analysts – suggests hardline sceptics could take as many as 218 (29%) of the 751 available seats, up from 164 out of 766 (21.4%) in the current parliament. Open Europe says this bloc is diffuse, ranging from mainstream governing parties to neo-fascists.

It forecasts that the European parliament will continue to be dominated by parties that favour the status quo or further integration, although their vote share is set to fall slightly.

The vote share of parties identified by Open Europe as being "critical reformers" – parties such as David Cameron's Conservatives, who believe the EU needs fundamental reform if it is to survive – is set to go from 53 to 39 seats. The projections are based on figures compiled by Vote Watch.

The thinktank argues that, paradoxically, the net effect of the anti-EU vote could be to make the parliament more integrationist as critical reformers will be crowded out, with the parliament and European commission bound together to resist the anti-European tide.

If voter turnout is 43%, roughly the same as in 2009, Open Europe estimate that 74.4% of all voters will have either voted against the EU, for radical change or not bothered to vote at all, with only 25.6% of all eligible voters actively voting in favour of status quo/more integration parties.

"For the European parliament to pursue an explicitly integrationist agenda on such a thin public mandate would not be democratically honest – and would most likely serve to fuel the anti-EU vote even further," Open Europe said.

Included in the anti-EU bloc as defined by Open Europe are parties supporting withdrawal, fierce EU critics including opponents of free movement of workers, neo-fascists, left anti-capitalists such an unreformed communist parties, anti-establishment parties such as Bepe Grillo's Five Star movement in Italy, and conservative nationalist parties.

A more narrow definition of anti-European parties taken by the research organisation Absolute Strategy produces a more modest 18% EU-wide vote for opposition to the bloc, still far higher than the 8% polled in 2009. Absolute Strategy excludes some of the most populist anti-politics parties as well as some nationalist parties.

Open Europe and Absolute Strategy both agree that the anti-EU vote spanning left, right and populist will not act as a coherent bloc.

Open Europe's critical reformers category contains the bulk of Conservative MEPs, the Dutch VVD and the German CSU. This does not mean that the parties Open Europe has identified as status quo, such as Labour and the Lib Dems or Angela Merkel's CDU, are completely opposed to EU reform; the difference is that the critical reformers believe the EU has wider structural flaws that need to be addressed, while the status quo parties favour more limited and targeted reforms and are generally less willing to force the issue.

Since direct elections were introduced in 1979, turnout has fallen from 62% to 43%, in part reflecting a wider electorate as the EU has expanded beyond the core group of EU nations, bringing in countries with low turnouts such as Slovakia.

When are men too old for jeans?

Jeans genies … Gary Oldman, Samuel L Jackson and Calvin Klein. Photograph: Rex Features

I am a balding man of 51 years old who nonetheless still wearsjeans. What is the last age when this is acceptable? (I know, I know, do what feels comfortable, don't follow silly rules – seriously, though, what age?)

PB, London, N8

My favourite correspondent, how wonderful to welcome you back to the page, PB. Judging from my records – and in this post-NSA age, you surely know that records are kept of everyone's movements – you have been corresponding with this column for more than eight years now and your steadfastness doesn't just warm my cockles, it roasts them. Send in one more question and I'll fork out for a free meal at Nando's, how about that? Truly, US Vogue wishes it had this column's levels of chic.

Yet as I lean back, enjoying the sensation of my cockles being roasted, a cloud crosses my brow. But wait, I cry, jumping up, sloshing my martini all over my Chanel couture. If PB has been reading this column for nearly a decade and he nonetheless asked this question, that must mean I've failed because HE STILL DOESN'T GET IT. And at that point, only the promise of one day learning Karl Lagerfeld's thoughts on Pippa Middleton's hypothetical future wedding dress saves me from doing something drastic.

PB, PB, PB: to learn that you still believe that there are rules about ages in fashion after all this time would be like God discovering that the Pope still doesn't quite get the whole Trinity thing. This is the basis of our entire belief system! Do not feel abashed, faithful correspondent, for it is not your fault. It is partly my fault, of course, for having, at some point, failed you as a teacher. But it is mainly the fault of the terrible end times in which we live, when people are made to feel ashamed of their age as opposed to proud of it – proud that they have survived however many decades of living in the same world as inane glossy magazines and something called the "anti-ageing industry" without actually throwing themselves off a cliff.

But in this case, I must confess that you are right: there is an age limit for men and jeans and that age is, as I shall exclusively reveal, 57. And so, on your 57th birthday, as your wife gives you a kiss and your cherry-cheeked children hand over a pack of birthday socks, there will be a knock on your door. You will find a pack of coppers backed by the staff of GQ on your front stoop with a giant burlap sack, ready to confiscate all your denim items. This happens to all men, but is a secret, like the actual existence of Santa Claus, so I'd appreciate it if all of you would keep this to yourselves.

Seeing as I've already broken the fashion ranks by revealing the Great 57th Birthday Denim Swag Haul, I shall further anger my style overlords by confessing I strongly disagree with this rule. In fact, I think it's downright insane. There are no age rules in fashion: none. Nada. Zilch. I know many wish there were, because it would make things easier. It's nice having a rule to cling to, to assure you that you will never look daft, never get hurt, never age, never get fat and never die and plunge into oblivion. Something you can follow unthinkingly without having to engage your own brain. The same human need to believe in religion, to give a hoot about what Gwyneth Paltrow or Beyoncé have to say about carbohydrates, or to spend £400 on a dodgy facial is the same one that longs to know the age at which one must stop wearing jeans. But I'm afraid that just as Gwyneth's insights into nutrition don't amount to a hill of mung beans, so there aren't any actual age rules in fashion, and just because fashion magazines claim otherwise does not make it so.

Why don't people have more faith in themselves? I wonder this often, when I see them rushing from one crackpot diet to another, from one celebrity "guru" to the next, from one fashion age limit to another. People, have faith that you know better than anyone what foods should go in your body and what clothes look good on your body, and just because some diet or fashion items suit one person does not mean they will suit you. Yes, it would be easier to go through life with a list telling you what to eat, wear and believe. But you know what? Life would also be pretty boring. Such is the price of living in the free world, one in which a 51-year-old man could walk down the street on his hands in a clown suit, should he so please. It's scarier to have to trust oneself, but ultimately it's also more satisfying.

So wear your jeans until they bore you, PB, or until they just no longer feel right. Should there come a point when they no longer suit you, trust yourself that you will know. Until then, wear them with panache and pride. To quote one of the all time great films, Mel Brooks's Spaceballs, "the Schwartz is in you – it's in you!" That's a quote that only those of us of a certain age will know. Proof that age truly does equal wisdom, wisdom that means we all deserve to wear whatever we want whenever we want.

Max Clifford found guilty of indecently assaulting teenage girls

The publicist Max Clifford has been found guilty of eight charges of indecent assault against women and girls as young as 15 by a jury at Southwark crown court in London.

Clifford, 71, was convicted following a six-week trial that exposed the "terrible, festering secret" that he was a paedophile who bullied and manipulated teenage girls into performing sex acts.

After deliberating for 32 hours, jurors found Clifford guilty of eight counts of indecent assault between 1977 and 1985.

He was found not guilty of two other charges of indecent assault. The jury could not decide on one further count.

Clifford was granted conditional bail but told by the judge that that should not be taken as an indication of the sentence that would be passed on Friday.

Clifford showed no emotion as the guilty verdicts were returned. His daughter, Louise, also remained expressionless in the public gallery next to Clifford's office manager, who sat with her head in her hands.

The publicist left the courtroom without speaking to the press, hurrying into a private room with his legal team as his supporters – including several employees – waited outside, some in tears.

Once outside, Clifford refused to make a statement. "I've been told by my lawyers to say nothing at all."

One of his supporters nodded his head when asked whether Clifford was the victim of a witch hunt. Louise Clifford grew emotional and refused to speak when a journalist asked whether she would say anything about her father, before they were bundled past a battery of camera lenses into a waiting car.

Clifford navigates the media outside court. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

The guilty verdicts make Clifford the first suspect to be prosecuted successfully under Scotland Yard's sprawling Operation Yewtree investigation, which was sparked by the Jimmy Savile scandal in late 2012 and has led to a spate of arrests but – until Monday – not one conviction.

Jenny Hopkins, deputy chief crown prosecutor for CPS London, said: "Today's verdicts provide a long-denied justice to the victims of serious sexual offences. I would like to thank these victims for having had the courage to come forward and give evidence. The victims of sexual abuse, whenever it may have taken place, should know that police and prosecutors will listen.

"It is only right that we now take some time to consider our position on the hung count and we will update the court accordingly."

Throughout the trial, the prosecution tried to convince the jury that Clifford was a "master in the art of intimidation and manipulation" who preyed on starstruck girls by promising to introduce them to the world of showbusiness in return for sexual favours.

The millionaire publicist, who has represented a string of stars in his five-decade career, used his New Bond Street office as his own "sexual fiefdom" and impersonated Hollywood icons to lure girls into his grasp, the court was told.

Clifford convinced one 18-year-old aspiring actor she could meet singer David Bowie if she performed a sex act, jurors heard. Another was said to have been promised a role in a James Bond film and he allegedly told a third he would secure her a role in Dynasty to repay her favours.

Summing up six weeks of evidence, Rosina Cottage QC, prosecuting, described Clifford as a risk-taker with an "arrogant confidence", urging jurors to reject the defence's claim that he was a "loving father" who had no interest in young girls.

"He has managed to portray himself in different ways to different people, but don't be fooled," Cottage said. "In every case his actions were sudden, unexpected and, frankly, in some cases so bizarre you may think these young women and girls have no idea how to react."

Clifford listened from the court dock with the aid of a hearing loop as witnesses described how he referred repeatedly to his "tiny" penis and, at other times, put on fake accents in telephone calls to his victims.

In another alleged assault, which was not a charge on the indictment because it took place abroad, Clifford is said to have forced a 12-year-old girl to masturbate him in a jacuzzi while on holiday in Spain after befriending her parents. "It shows he will take outrageous risks and place the hand of a child on his penis, knowing he had power and control over this girl," Cottage said.

Pupil arrested after teacher stabbed to death at Leeds school

A 15-year-old student has been arrested after a female teacher was stabbed to death at a school in Leeds.

The incident happened at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Osmondthorpe, in the east of the city.

The teacher was named locally as Anne Maguire, 61, who taught Spanish and was head of year 11. She had been a teacher for 40 years.

West Yorkshire police said: "At 11.48am today police were contacted by the ambulance service who were attending a report of a member of staff having been stabbed at Corpus Christi Catholic college, in Neville Road, Leeds. The female member of staff was taken to hospital for treatment but was subsequently pronounced dead.

"A 15-year-old male pupil has been arrested in connection with the incident and is currently in custody."

Det Supt Simon Beldon said: "We would like to reassure people that this has been an isolated incident and there is no ongoing risk to pupils or staff at the school.

"The situation is under control and officers, including safer schoolsofficers and members of the local neighbourhood policing team, are currently at the school and are liaising closely with staff. The rest of the school is continuing to operate as normal and we would ask that parents do not attend the site unless directly requested to do so by the school.

Bouquet laid outside Corpus Christi college. Photograph: Helen Pidd

"Our inquiries are at a very early stage but the full circumstances of this incident will obviously be the subject of a full and thorough investigation."

Pupils said both students and teachers were in tears at the news. The teacher, who has not been officially named, had taught at the school for a long time. Student Georgina Kilroy, 16, said the woman had been a teacher for 40 years.

"I don't know anyone who didn't like her. She was spot on. You couldn't ask for a better teacher."

She said her teacher broke down when she told the children the news. Initially lessons continued as pupils were told that a teacher had gone to hospital.

Outside the school one tearful parent waited for her son, anxious to check he was ok. Lidia Franco said her son, Jorg, was in year 11 and was taught by the dead teacher.

"She was such a lovely woman, strict but in a good way," she said. "I just can't believe it. Oh my god, this is so crazy."

Franco said she worked at the school until last year, in the kitchens and as a cleaner. "No way are knives allowed in this school. Even in the cookery classes the children aren't allowed sharp knives," she said.

One pupil, speaking to journalists outside the school, said: "I was in the science lab doing some science work and I just heard everyone screaming and running about and then we just got told to stay there. And just told that a teacher had been attacked," he said.

"She was a lovely teacher. Never done anything wrong to anyone. In my opinion one of the best. She never hurt anyone or done anyone bad."

Other pupils paid tribute on Twitter, describing her as "a brilliant teacher", who was "amazing" and "a friend" to pupils.

There are nearly 1,000 pupils on the roll aged between 11 and 16, according to the school's website. It also has "a strong Christian and community ethos".

The website adds: "The school has a very good pastoral structure, which it is committed to keeping and teachers receive very good back-up support."

Tom Riordan, chief executive of Leeds city council, said: "We are aware of the serious incident at Corpus Christi Catholic college this morning and our thoughts are with all those concerned.

"We are working with the school to support pupils and staff at this very upsetting time. We wish to reassure people that this was an isolated incident and there is no ongoing risk to pupils or staff at the school. We are working closely with the police and helping with their investigation."

Police stand outside Corpus Christi college in Leeds, where a 15-year-old boy has been arrested after a woman teacher was stabbed to death. Photograph: Lynne Cameron/PA

Downing Street described the stabbing as appalling. "The prime minister's thoughts are very much with the victim's relatives as well as the entire school community there, which I'm sure will be deeply shocked," David Cameron's official spokesman said.

Greg Mulholland, Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West, tweeted:"Appalling news about the incident at Corpus Christi college, my thoughts & prayers are with the family & friends & staff & students."

Hilary Benn, Labour MP for Leeds Central, described the incident as "profoundly saddening" but said he was not in favour of stringent security measures that would keep staff and pupils "behind high fences".

He told BBC News: "Most people are good and most people try and do the right thing.

"This is not representative of the college, of the community that surrounds it, the families that send their children to school and the city itself. But it is profoundly saddening."

He added: "Schools are places of learning. We want our schools to be open - we don't want to lock pupils and staff behind high fences."

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "This is a truly awful thing to have happened to a teacher in the course of her work to educate the next generation.

"Appalling events like this are thankfully very rare indeed but the death of any teacher in her place of work, which should be a place of safety, is devastating. Our condolences go to the family and friends of this teacher, and to students and colleagues at the school.

"The NUT will provide any help and assistance we can possibly offer to Corpus Christi Catholic College and its community."

Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, added: "We are shocked and saddened to hear the news that a teacher has been stabbed to death at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds.

"Our thoughts are with her family, her colleagues and the students of the school.

"Teachers carry a great weight for our society and we owe them so much. It is terrible that they should be asked to pay this price too. We know that the close community of schools in Leeds will rally round to offer colleagues their support."

Guardiola wants to see Ribery's 'angry' side

The Spaniard has called on the Frenchman to deliver a match-winning performance as his side bid to reach the Champions League final

Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola has called on Franck Ribery to deliver an "angry" performance againstReal Madrid on Tuesday.

The European champions enter the second leg of their Champions League semi-final tie a goal behind thanks to Karim Benzema's strike in the first encounter last week.

Ribery, who has gone through a difficult run of form of late, scored in the weekend's 5-2 victory over Werder Bremen and the Spaniard wants the French winger to deliver a match-winning performance against the Spaniards.

"Franck Ribéry is very important and necessary for us," he said at a press conference. 

"He has been at Bayern longer than me. I am happy of course if he plays well, with energy and motivation. He sometimes needs an angriness and I am sure he will play very well tomorrow. 

"He has this fighting spirit. He always wants to fight, that’s why the people love him. He is one of the most fantastic players in the history of Bayern."

Guardiola admitted that his side were disappointed not to come away from the Santiago Bernabeu with an away goal to their name.

"We wanted to score an away goal. Now, even more so, we have to attack and we have no other chance. We have to take care of their counterattacks. 

"Being in the semis, you are closer to the final. In Madrid they saw that they are very close to the final. We can't make it by ourselves tomorrow. 

"We need the fans who have been outstanding before. I am sure our fans will be there for us tomorrow. We can make it to the final. The team want it, I want it, the fans want it. Together we can achieve this.

"Real are very fast, they run a lot. If you lose the ball, you need to close the spaces and a good set up in defence. I have to prepare for different scenarios. 

"Most of the time they dominate games, they can play more offensively or more defensively – we have to be prepared for everything. 

"They will try to defend the advantage they have for 90 minutes. With which tactics, we will see. It does not matter who Real pick. I can't judged this. [Carlo] Ancelotti will decide. 

"Their 11 players will attack and defend together. We have to concentrate on the whole team."

Ljajic hails Pjanic: It was a once-in-a-lifetime goal against AC Milan

The Serbia international was left in awe of his team-mate, who danced his way through the Rossoneri defence before opening the scoring at the Stadio Olimpico with a cool finish

Adem Ljajic has praised Roma team-mate Miralem Pjanic for his once-in-a-lifetime goal in Friday's 2-0 win over AC Milan.

With Juventus on the verge of another title, Rudi Garcia's men had to pick up maximum points to prevent the Turin giants potentially claiming the crown on Monday night, and the Bosnian's fine solo goal combined with Gervinho's second-half strike to secure maximum points for the capital side.

And Ljajic paid tribute to his colleague for making a vital breakthrough, with Pjanic jinking his way past two players as he danced his way straight through the heart of the Milan defence before coolly sliding the ball past Christian Abbiati.

"In the first 15 minutes, we didn't play well but then we raised our rhythm and Pjanic scored a goal the likes of which you only see once in your life," he enthused. "After the break, we played our game and the victory arrived like this.

"We're not going to give up until the end but it doesn't depend solely on us. We're waiting for Juventus here [on May 9]. We can win against anyone."

Meanwhile, Ljajic revealed that he wants to remain at Roma "for a long time" but says that his future will only be decided at the end of the season.

The Serbia international only joined the Giallorossi from Fiorentina for an initial €11 million last summer but he has failed to nail down a regular starting berth in Rudi Garcia's team, and Viola boss Vincenzo Montella admitted last week that he would welcome the 22-year-old back at the Artemio Franchi with open arms.

However, while Ljajic freely admits the he does not know what the future holds for him, he is hoping that he will still be at the Stadio Olimpico next season.

"I hope to stay at Roma for a long time," the attacker told Sky Sport Italia. "I like this city and I like playing in this team.

"We'll see at the end of the season what the club decide. We'll speak again when the championship's finished."