Badie sentenced to life in prison for Ismailia violence

The Ismailia Criminal Court has sentenced Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and 35 others to life in prison for violence that broke out in Ismailia in 2013.

In the same case, the court sentenced nine other defendants to 15 years in a maximum security prison, 20 people to 10 years in prison and another 20 defendants to three years.

On July 5, 2013, two days after former President Mohamed Morsi was removed from power, his supporters staged protests in front of the Ismailia Governorate headquarters and clashed with the ex-president's opponents. Three people died and more than 100 were injured in the violence. Morsi’s supporters also broke into the headquarters and hung up pictures of the former president, announcing civil disobedience in protest against his removal from office.

Pursuant to the clashes, then-Prosecutor General Hesham Barakat referred 105 Muslim Brotherhood members to the Ismailia Criminal Court in September 2014. The prosecution accused the defendants of terrorism, murder, thuggery, attempting to occupy a government building by force, vandalism and weapons possession.

Investigations showed that Badie had conducted meetings with Muslim Brotherhood leaders where they agreed to “confront state institutions and punish citizens for the June 30 revolution and creating a state of chaos in the country.” The Guidance Bureau allegedly instructed the Brotherhood leadership in Ismailia to implement a plan to that end.

Badie has been sentenced to life in six other cases. Three of the verdicts were overturned and the cases are to be retried by the Court of Cassation, while three other life sentences are pending appeals.

Badie has also been sentenced to death in three cases. The Court of Cassation overturned two of the verdicts, including the Edwa Police Station case in Minya and the Rabea al-Adaweya operations room case. The court is looking into an appeal of the Wadi al-Natrun prison break case.