Assiut Military Court sentenced former Shura Council member and Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdel Ellah Hafez to five years in prison, while Brotherhood leader Rabei Ahmed was sentenced to ten years on Monday, according to defence lawyer Khaled Al-Koumi.
The defendants were arrested in March on charges of inciting violence and riots, and storming Malwy police station in Minya during the dispersal of the Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Al-Nahda sit-ins.
On 14 August 2013, security forces, in cooperation with the Armed Forces, dispersed the sit-ins, which had been happening for 48 days. The sit-ins were held in rejection to the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. In December 2014, Egypt banned the Muslim Brotherhood, labelling them as a terrorist group.
Trying civilians in military courts has been widely criticised by human rights advocates, as such cases have increased in recent months.
