Egypt court sentences 89 Muslim Brotherhood members to life imprisonment News
Egypt court sentences 89 Muslim Brotherhood members to life imprisonment

[JURIST] An Egyptian criminal court on Saturday sentenced Mohamed Badie and 88 other Muslim Brotherhood [official website] members to life imprisonment for their role in a 2013 attack on a police station. First reported by Middle East News Agency (MENA), Egypt’s state-run news agency, most defendants were tried and sentenced in absentia for the killing [Guardian report] of five people at a police station in the northeastern city of Port Said in August 2013. The attack came two days after a police crackdown [CNN report] in Cairo on supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, resulting in hundreds of deaths. Twenty-eight other defendants were given 10-year sentences, and 71 were acquitted. This most recent sentencing is Badie’s sixth life sentence, which is a 25-year sentence in Egypt. In June an Egyptian court upheld [JURIST report] death sentences for Badie and Morsi for orchestrating attempted jailbreaks and attacks on police during the 2011 uprising.

The Muslim Brotherhood [JURIST news archive] has been facing legal challenges, particularly since Morsi’s ousting in Egypt. In February an Egyptian court put Morsi on trial [JURIST report] over accusations of spying and leaking information to Qatar. Earlier in February an Egyptian court ordered the release [JURIST report] on bail of two Al Jazeera journalists being retried on terror charges. Baher Mohammed and Mohammed Fahmy had spent more than 400 days in jail after a court found them guilty for falsifying news reports and associating with the Muslim Brotherhood. Also that month a court in Egypt confirmed death sentences [JURIST report] for 183 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and ousted president Mohammed Morsi. In October an Egyptian court jailed eight men [JURIST report], including two Muslim Brotherhood leaders, for 15 years over the torture of a lawyer during 2011 uprisings against former president Hosni Mubarak.

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