An Egyptian court has sentenced four members of the
banned Muslim Brotherhood organisation to death and 14 to
life in prison.
Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and his deputy
Khairat al-Shater were among those sentenced to life on
today, along with former lawmaker Mohamed el-Beltagy
and party head Saad el-Katatni and his deputy, Essam el-
Erian.
Three co-defendants of Badie were also sentenced to death in
the same trial. Those convicted were accused of murder,
inciting murder, attempted murder, possession of firearms and
several more. The verdict can be appealed.
In December 2014 the court sentenced the four men to death
and referred the sentences to the grand mufti for
consideration. The mufti endorsed the court’s December
decision.
The case stems from clashes near the Brotherhood’s
headquarters on June 30, 2013, four days before the ouster of
President Mohamed Morsi.The fighting left 11 people dead and
91 wounded. Badie has already been sentenced by three
separate courts to three life terms, and he was also handed
two death sentences that were later overturned on appeal.
Morsi himself is facing several trials on charges that are
punishable by death, while his group have been designated a
“terrorist group”. Some 22,000 people have been arrested
since Morsi’s ouster, including most of the Brotherhood’s
leaders, as well as non-Islamist activists swept up by police
during protests.