Srinagar: 75 prominent members and affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood have been sentenced to death by an Egyptian court. They were given the death penalty on the charges of murder, incitement to break the law, membership of a banned group and for being part of an illegal gathering. Judge Hassan Farid el-Shami, pronounced the judgment on Saturday in Cairo’s Tora prison courthouse.
According to court sources, 75 supporters including the Muslim Brotherhood’s supreme leader, Mohammed Badie were awarded death sentence. Others include senior Muslim Brotherhood leader Essam el-Erian, politician Mohamed el-Beltagy, Salafi preacher Safwat Hegazy, former youth minister Osama Yassin and cleric Abdel-Rahman el-Barr.
The protest broke out in 2013 in support of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi. The protestants mostly Brotherhood members and affiliates staged a sit-in days before Morsi was ousted by Abdel Fatah al-Sisiin a military coup on 3 July 2013 and continued the protest until it was violently dispersed on 14 August 2013.