NAN-F-33
Sentence
Cairo, May 8, 2017 (dpa/NAN) An Egyptian Criminal Court on Monday handed a life sentence to top Muslim Brotherhood leader, Mohammed Badie and two other senior members of the group.
The court also sentenced 15 other brotherhood members to five years in prison and acquitted 21.
The appealable verdict is the first in a retrial in the case dubbed “Rabaa Operations Room” in reference to the Muslim Brotherhood sit-in in Rabaa al-Adawiya square that challenged the army’s overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.
In December 2015, the top appeal court overturned a death sentence against Badie and 11 others, as well as a life sentence for the rest of the defendants, granting them a retrial.
The court’s indictments included funding the sit-in, plotting terrorist attacks against public facilities and spreading false information to destabilise the state.
Since 2013, Badie has been handed four death sentences, all of which have been overturned by the appeal court.
The Islamist leader has also been sentenced to a sum of over 100 years in prison in a number of cases.
Over the past four years, hundreds have been convicted of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood and handed various sentences including the death penalty and prison terms.
The group was designated a terrorist group by the Egyptian government in late 2013.
Since the ouster of Morsi, Egypt has seen an increasing wave of violence, mainly targeting police and army forces, as well as Christian gatherings.
Most attacks have been claimed by the Islamic State extremist group. (dpa/NAN)
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