Egyptian court upholds life imprisonment for 10 Islamists

Cairo (Associated Press)-According to the state-owned MENA news agency, Egypt’s Supreme Court of Appeal upheld on Sunday the sentence of life imprisonment for 10 leaders of Egypt’s illegal Muslim Brotherhood (including the head of the organization).

In 2019, the Cairo Criminal Court ruled that all 10 people, including the organization’s top guide Mohamed Badi, were guilty of killing police and organizing a mass escape during the 2011 uprising in Egypt. This uprising eventually led to the resignation of long-time dictator Hosni Mubarak. The defendant was convicted of helping some 20,000 prisoners escape from prison and convicted of conspiring with foreign militant groups (Hamas in Palestine and Hezbollah in Lebanon) to undermine national security.

At the same time, the Supreme Court of Appeal acquitted eight middle-level leaders of the country’s oldest Islamic organization, who were earlier sentenced to 15 years in prison.

All judgments considered by the court on appeal are final judgments.

This is the latest of several life imprisonment sentences for the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. Since the late Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first elected president, was suppressed by the military in 2013, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood has received repeated Trial. Morsi came from the ranks of the organization, but his one-year rule proved to be divided and triggered nationwide protests.

Since 2013, tens of thousands of Egyptians have been arrested and many have fled the country. Morsi himself was a defendant in the escape case, but he passed out in court in the summer of 2019 and died while appearing in court. A judge eventually dropped the charges against Morsi, who was detained in Mubarak’s security forces trying to weaken the suppression of the planned protest after two days after he fled with other Brotherhood leaders in 2011.

Last month, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentences of 12 people who participated in the Islamist protests in 2013, including several senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Trials and death sentences have been severely criticized by human rights organizations at home and abroad, calling the process a mockery of justice.