Court upholds life sentence against Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide

Wednesday 26-10-2016 06:11 PM

Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohames Badie during one of his trial sessions - Reuters

CAIRO, Oct 26 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt's Court of Cassation upheld on Wednesday the life sentence against Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and 36 others in a case where they were accused of blocking the Cairo-Alexandria Agricultural Road.

The ruling is final and not subject to appeal.

In July 2014, a criminal court sentenced Badie and other senior Brotherhood figures like Safwat Hegazy, Mohamed al-Beltagy and others to life in prison. It also sentenced 10 defendants to death in absentia.

The convicts are accused of inciting violence and blocking the Cairo-Alexandria Agricultural Road after the violent dispersal of the Rabaa al-Adaweya and Nahda sit-ins in August 2013.

The sit-ins were held in support of former president Mohamed Mursi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood.

Mursi was ousted by the military after mass protests against his rule in June 2013.

Authorities have led a crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters since Mursi was overthrown.

Mursi himself is in jail, facing a string of sentences in more than one court case including for espionage and escaping prison during the January 2011 Uprising.

The Cassation Court also upheld the 20-year sentence against Mursi and 12 other Brotherhood leaders in the case dubbed as the presidential palace clashes.

The defendants were convicted of detaining, torturing and inciting violence against protesters outside the Ittihadiya presidential palace during his tenure in December 2012. 

Badie is standing trial in a number of cases on charges such as killing protesters and inciting violence.

He was previously sentenced to death and prison terms in other trials, but the sentences are not final and may be appealed.

Egypt listed the Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation in December 2013 and insists it is behind the wave of militancy which has targeted security personnel since Mursi’s ouster. 

The Brotherhood continuously denies the accusations.

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