Egypt: 683 alleged supporters of ex-President Morsi sentenced to death

May 2, 2014

Muslim Brotherhood’s supreme guide, Mohamed Badie and 683 alleged supporters of the group have been sentenced to death by an Egyptian judge. The judge confirmed the death sentences of 37 of 529 alleged supporters condemned earlier.
If the sentence is confirmed, Mohamed Badie, would be the most senior Brotherhood figure sentenced to death since one of the group’s leading ideologues, Sayed Qutb, was sentenced and executed in 1966.
The guilty verdict and death sentences are still subject to appeal at the Court of Appeal. It however, gives a chance for a judge to change an initial sentence. As per Egyptian law, the death sentences are confirmed by the presiding judge after a comment has been invited from the Grand Mufti of Al Azhar, the country’s apex religious official.
The violence of which the defendants are accused happened on August 14, 2013 as news reached Minya governorate that police had launched the deadly clearance of two sit-ins in Cairo, held by supporters of former President Mohamed Morsi, who had recently been thrown out after mass protests against his regime.

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