Egypt court upholds death sentences for 20 Brotherhood members
An Egyptian court has upheld death sentences for 20 members of the Muslim Brotherhood over killing 13 policemen during violent unrest in 2013.
"The verdict is final and cannot be appealed," a judicial official said on Monday.
In August 2013, one month after the ouster of the first democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi, police dispersed a mass sit-in protest in Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya Square. Security forces killed hundreds of people in a matter of hours, in what Human Rights Watch concluded "likely amounted to crimes against humanity."
The protest was staged by Morsi’s supporters.
Hours later, a furious crowd attacked a police station in the Cairo suburb of Kerdassa, where 13 policemen were killed.
According to HRW, nearly 85,000 protesters joined the sit-in, which extended for over 45 days and grew larger and more organized with time. Thousands were arrested on the day of the massacre and in the following months.
The same court on Monday also sentenced 80 people to 25-year prison terms and a further 34 to 15 years each in jail over the Kerdassa incident. It also acquitted 21 defendants.
Since President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi took power in 2014, authorities have justified a crackdown on dissent and freedoms as being directed at saboteurs trying to undermine the state.
Egypt's courts have sentenced hundreds of people to death or lengthy jail terms over the unrest, including Morsi and several leaders of his Muslim Brotherhood movement on charges such as planning to carry out attacks.
An Egyptian court earlier this month sentenced to death 75 people for their participation in sit-in protests following Morsi’s ouster.
International rights groups have censured Egyptian authorities for failing to prosecute those members of the security forces who were involved in the August 2013 massacre of protesters.
Since President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi took power in 2014, authorities have justified a crackdown on dissent and freedoms as being directed at saboteurs trying to undermine the state. Death sentences have been handed down to hundreds of his political opponents on charges such as belonging to an illegal organization or planning to carry out an attack.
The Sisi administration has also outlawed the Brotherhood organization, which is Egypt’s oldest opposition movement. The group operated under strict measures during the rule of longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak, who was himself removed from power following an uprising in 2011.
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