[JURIST] Authorities in Egypt on Tuesday announced the arrest of two leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo’s Gaza district after they were both convicted and sentenced to death in absentia. Mahmoud Ghozlan and Abdul Rahman al-Barr were part of the brotherhood’s highest office, the Guidance Bureau, and the organization condemned the arrests [press release]. Authorities announced [Reuters report] on Tuesday that they had broken up a cell of the group that was collecting government intelligence for foreign countries. Because their convictions were handed down in absentia, Egyptian law requires that they be retried when arrested [AP report]. The arrests were made one day before former president and Muslim Brotherhood member Mohammed Morsi was expected to be sentenced by the court, but a judge has stated he will announce the ruling on June 16.

Egypt’s tumultuous situation with the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi supporters continues today. Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights [official website] reported on Sunday that at least 2,600 people [JURIST report] were killed by violence in the 18 months following Morsi’s military ouster. An Egyptian court sentenced [JURIST report] 30 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to life imprisonment in May on charges of violent behavior. Also in May an Egyptian court sentenced Morsi [JURIST report] and more than 100 others to death for their involvement in a mass prison break. The prison break occurred during the country’s 2011 uprising which ousted then-president Hosni Mubarak. In April Human Rights Watch said [JURIST report] that the Morsi’s trial was “badly flawed” and compromised by due process violations. In February an Egyptian court confirmed [JURIST report] death sentences for 183 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi. The men were convicted in December 2014 of playing a role in an attack on a police station in the governate of Giza, known as the “Kerdasa massacre,” which resulted in the death of 11 police officers and two civilians.