Egypt court jails 126 Brotherhood supporters
The defendants chanted “down with military rule” as Judge Hassan Fareed read out the sentences at the court convened at a police academy in Cairo
An Egyptian court sentenced 126 Muslim Brotherhood supporters to 10 years in prison each on Sunday, state TV reported.
They were sentenced in a case related to violence in the Nile Delta province of Kafr el-Sheikh last August after the overthrow of President Mohammad Mursi.
The defendants chanted “down with military rule” as Judge Hassan Fareed read out the sentences at the court convened at a police academy in Cairo, a witness said, according to Reuters news agency.
A further 37 people received 15-year sentences in a second case related to an alleged attempt to blow up a Cairo metro station.
Brotherhood leader Mohammad Badie, who was among 683 people sentenced to death last month, made a rare address in court, rejecting the accusations leveled against his group.
“We have never responded to any attack against us with violence,” Badie said, addressing the judge in footage uploaded to Youtube.
The judiciary was being used in a political conflict the likes of which Egypt had never seen before, he said.
The military ousted the Islamist Mursi last July after days of mass demonstrations by protesters demanding that he step down.
The government declared the Brotherhood a terrorist group after an upsurge in attacks on the police and army following Mursi’s removal from power.
Many of the attacks have been claimed by radical Islamist groups such as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis.
[With Reuters]
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