(AFP/File Photo)
The Cairo Criminal Court sentenced Muslim Brotherhood leaders and others to imprisonment, on charges of inciting violence during protests in March 2013 in front of the Brotherhood’s guidance office.
The verdict, which came after an appeal in August 2014, included former Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and his deputy Khairat El-Shater, Saad Al-Katatni, Mohamed Al-Beltagy, and 12 others. The court has previously given four of the defendants a death sentence.
The prosecution charged them with murder, attempted murder, carrying weapons, and live ammunition, and belonging to an armed group that intimidates citizens.
Several protests were held in front of the Brotherhood’s headquarters in Moqattam during ousted president Mohamed Morsi’s reign. The most violent of these was in March 2014, when at least 200 were injured after a protest dubbed by opposition as “Reclaiming Diginity”.
The trial includes 29 another defendants accused of using excessive force and terrorising residents of the Moqattam area. El-Shater, Bayoumi and Mostafa Abdel Azim are in custody, while the others remain fugitives.
