A court in Egypt has sentenced 10 Islamist supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsis Muslim Brotherhood to death for inciting violence and blocking a road. The men were sentenced in absentia at a court in the Nile Delta town of Banha following the incident last July. Judge Hassan Fareed, presiding over the court, referred the sentence to the Grand Mufti, the highest Islamic authority, which is a legal requirement usually considered a formality. Supporters of Egypts ousted president Mohammed Morsi, who have been charged with violence pictured earlier this year. Today ten supporters were sentenced to death for inciting violence and blocking a road last year The remaining 38 on trial in the case will be sentenced at the next hearing next month. Among them are Brotherhood supreme guide Mohammed Badie and former Brotherhood lawmaker Mohammed el-Beltagy. MORE...Islamist gunmen storm university killing three police officers before taking dozens of students hostageTrojan Horse school not doing enough to combat extremism... and even offers lessons in holy war They also include Salafi preacher Safwat Hegazy and Bassem Auda, the supplies minister under the former president, who was overthrown by the military last year following massive protests against his year-long rule. The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypts most well-organised opposition movement during decades of autocratic rule, was propelled to power by the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. Egypt court sentences 10 Brotherhood supporters to death The 10 Islamists were supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, led by ousted president Mohammed Morsi, pictured The trials are part of a fierce government crackdown in the months following Morsis overthrow, during which the group was outlawed and then declared a terrorist movement. Hundreds of Morsi supporters have been killed in clashes with police, at least 16,000 have been detained by the military-backed government and hundreds referred to trial. Elsewhere, an appeals court today overturned the sentences given to four police officers over the deaths of 37 detainees, most of them Morsi supporters, Egypts state news agency MENA reported. The prisoners suffocated in an overcrowded police truck where they had been packed for hours when the police threw tear gas canisters into the cramped space. A military vehicle keeping guard in front of the supreme constitutional court in Cairo in preparation for the inauguration of Egypts new president, retired Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi The court had handed a 10-year prison term to one officer and one-year suspended sentences to three in March, a verdict that outraged lawyers and families of the victims. The court said the case will be referred back to prosecutors and a retrial will be held after an appeal by the convicted police officers. It was the first trial and conviction of police officers in connection to a crackdown on Islamists since Morsi was ousted. Brotherhood supporters have witnessed a series of mass trials, the largest of which saw 529 sentenced to death in one session in southern Egypt. Under Egyptian law, those sentenced in absentia will have a new trial if they are arrested or surrender to authorities. The sentences come on the eve of the inauguration of Egypts new president, retired Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi, who led the overthrow of Morsi.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Jun 2014 14:05:46 +0000
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