There’s not a whole lot of sympathy toward the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe or the United States, but sentencing 683 members of the group to death after a two-day group trial might just raise some.

An Egyptian court sentenced the leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and 682 supporters to death on Monday, intensifying a crackdown on the movement that could trigger protests and political violence ahead of an election next month.

This is on top of a trial which condemned 529 Muslim Brotherhood members to death last month.

I don’t know about you, but trying people in absentia as members of a group leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It’s an even nastier taste when it’s people who are members of a political party which held office until you overthrew them a year ago, supposedly in the name of democracy. Hogwash. The Egyptian Army decided it wanted the power over the country back, power it had held under every Egyptian President from Nasser to Sadat to Mubarak. It’s now consolidating that power and eliminating its opponents.

And how is America responding to this? Not well, from my perspective.

The Obama administration said last week that it would partly resume military aid to Egypt, six months after cutting off the assistance in the wake of Mursi’s ouster. The administration is delivering 10 Apache helicopters to Cairo and has notified Congress of its intention to send $650 million in aid for weapons systems used for border security, counterterrorism, anti-smuggling and non-proliferation.

I am reminded that one of the reasons Saddam Hussein remained in power in Iraq after his surrender in 1991 was that he was allowed to keep his helicopters, which he promptly used to suppress a Shia revolt in the south of the country. I’d hate to think these new Apaches would be used to do similar things to Egyptians who don’t like their government.