Court sentences 126 MB supporters to 10 years in prison

Kafr al-Sheikh Criminal Court sentenced 126 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood accused of violence to 10 years in prison on Sunday, the privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported.

They were accused of attacking police forces, rioting and possession of illegal weapons during clashes with security forces in the northern governorate of Kafr al-Sheikh following the violent dispersal of two Brotherhood protest camps in Rabea al-Adaweya and Nahda Squares in August 2013.

The same court handed another six defendants six-month suspended sentences.

Shubra Criminal Court also sentenced 37 Brotherhood supporters to 15 years in prison with labor and a fine of LE20,000 each for attempting to bomb a metro station and murder a police officer. A minor was sentenced to three years in the same case.

The rulings come amid a wave of similar sentences against supporters of the ousted Islamist group, including two controversial court rulings by Minya Criminal Court, which sentenced over 1,200 members of the banned organization to death.

Over 530 defendants were sentenced to death in one case for allegedly killing a police officer, with 37 of the sentences later upheld and the rest reduced to life sentences.

Another ruling sentenced the Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and over 670 others to death, but the country’s mufti is yet to confirm the sentences.

Another case against Badie and 47 others for their alleged involvement in violence in the northern city of Qalyubiya Governorate in late July last year was scheduled for June 7 by Shubra Criminal Court, when a final verdict is due to be given, the state-owned Middle East News Agency reported on Sunday.

The defendants include Brotherhood leaders Mohamed al-Beltagy, Osama Yassin, Bassem Ouda, Mohamed Abdel Maqsoud, Abdel Rahman al-Barr, Abdallah Barakat and Mohsen Rady, as well as Islamist preacher Safwat Hegazy.

The Giza Criminal Court also held the first session in the trial of 188 defendants accused of storming Kerdasa Police Station and killing 14 soldiers and officers. The defendants include former Freedom and Justice Party Member of Parliament Abdel Salam Bashandy, who allegedly plotted the bloody attack.

Alexandria's Sidi Gaber Misdemeanor Court also approved a preliminary court ruling sentencing 66 Brotherhood members to three years in prison and a fine of LE50,000 on Sunday.

Five defendants were also given two years for inciting violence following clashes with residents of the Stanley neighborhood on August 30 last year, including Badie, Sobhy Saleh, Hassan al-Brince, Hamdy Hassan and Mohamady Ahmed.