(FILES) - A file picture taken on June 7, 2014 shows Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie gesturing as he shouts from inside the defendants cage during his trial in the capital Cairo. A court in Egypt on June 19, 2014 sentenced to death Badie and 13 others over violence that killed 10 people in Cairo in summer 2013. AFP PHOTO /KHALED DESOUKI</s>An Egyptian court upheld on Saturday a life sentence against Mohamed Badie, the leader of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, over 2013 violence, judicial sources said.

The court of cassation, Egypt's top court, rejected an appeal by Badie and others against verdicts issued against them last May in the case known in local media as "the Rabaa Operations Room" trial.

The Court of Cassation also upheld life sentences against two other Brotherhood leaders including Mahmoud Ghozlan, a Brotherhood spokesman, along with five-year prison terms for 15 others, defense lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud told AFP.

The case relates to a sit-in in Rabaa to support ousted President Mohamed Morsi who hailed from the Muslim Brotherhood. The sit-in, which began after the army ousted Morsi following mass protests against his rule, was forcibly dispersed by security forces, leaving hundreds dead.

The defendants were charged with leading an illegally founded organization, plotting to stir chaos and publishing false news among other crimes.

Authorities outlawed the Brotherhood after Morsi was ousted, and arrested thousands of its supporters. They also dissolved its Freedom and Justice Party, which Morsi led.

Decisions made by the court of cassation are final and cannot be appealed. Saturday's life sentence is the third against Badie.

The retrial came after the Court of Cassation scrapped a 2015 ruling under which Badie and 13 others were condemned to death and 34 defendants given life terms -- 25 years in Egypt.

The court has cancelled scores of death sentences against Morsi supporters, including against the deposed president himself.</s>An Egyptian appeals court on Saturday upheld a life sentence against the Muslim Brotherhood’s supreme guide Mohamed Badie for “planning violent attacks”, judicial officials and his lawyer said.

The Court of Cassation also upheld life sentences against two other Brotherhood leaders including Mahmoud Ghozlan, a Brotherhood spokesman, along with five-year prison terms for 14 others, defence lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud told AFP.

Badie’s life sentence — his third — and the court’s other rulings are final and cannot be appealed.

The defendants were accused of conspiring to stir unrest during protests that followed the July 2013 military-led ouster of Egypt’s Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who hailed from the Brotherhood.

The retrial came after the Court of Cassation scrapped a 2015 ruling under which Badie and 13 others were condemned to death and 34 defendants given life terms — 25 years in Egypt.

The court has cancelled scores of death sentences against Morsi supporters, including against the deposed president himself.

Egypt designated the Brotherhood a “terrorist” organisation in December 2013.</s>Muslim Brotherhood's leader Mohamed Badie waves with the Rabaa sign, symbolizing support for the Muslim Brotherhood, during the trial of 738 brotherhood members for their armed sit-in at Rabaa square, at a court on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt Thomson Reuters CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court upheld on Saturday a life sentence against Mohamed Badie, the leader of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, over 2013 violence, judicial sources said.

The court of cassation, Egypt's top court, rejected an appeal by Badie and others against verdicts issued against them last May in the case known in local media as "the Rabaa Operations Room" trial.

The case relates to a sit-in in Rabaa to support ousted President Mohamed Mursi who hailed from the Muslim Brotherhood. The sit-in, which began after the army ousted Mursi following mass protests against his rule, was forcibly dispersed by security forces, leaving hundreds dead.

Badie and two others were sentenced to life imprisonment in the case, 15 others were sentenced to five years while 21 people were acquitted, sources said.

The defendants were charged with leading an illegally founded organization, plotting to stir chaos and publishing false news among other crimes.

Authorities outlawed the Brotherhood after Mursi was ousted, and arrested thousands of its supporters. They also dissolved its Freedom and Justice Party, which Mursi led.

Decisions made by the court of cassation are final and cannot be appealed. Saturday's life sentence is the third against Badie.</s>Mohamed Badie and two others were sentenced to life imprisonment. — Reuters picCAIRO, April 14 —An Egyptian court upheld today a life sentence against Mohamed Badie, the leader of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, over 2013 violence, judicial sources said.

The court of cassation, Egypt’s top court, rejected an appeal by Badie and others against verdicts issued against them last May in the case known in local media as “the Rabaa Operations Room” trial.

The case relates to a sit-in in Rabaa to support ousted President Mohamed Mursi who hailed from the Muslim Brotherhood. The sit-in, which began after the army ousted Mursi following mass protests against his rule, was forcibly dispersed by security forces, leaving hundreds dead.

Badie and two others were sentenced to life imprisonment in the case, 15 others were sentenced to five years while 21 people were acquitted, sources said.

The defendants were charged with leading an illegally founded organization, plotting to stir chaos and publishing false news among other crimes.

Authorities outlawed the Brotherhood after Mursi was ousted, and arrested thousands of its supporters. They also dissolved its Freedom and Justice Party, which Mursi led.

Decisions made by the court of cassation are final and cannot be appealed. Saturday’s life sentence is the third against Badie. — Reuters</s>CAIRO : An Egyptian appeals court on Saturday upheld a life sentence against the Muslim Brotherhood's supreme guide Mohamed Badie for "planning violent attacks", judicial officials and his lawyer said.

The Court of Cassation also upheld life sentences against two other Brotherhood leaders including Mahmoud Ghozlan, a Brotherhood spokesman, along with five-year prison terms for 14 others, defence lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud told AFP.

Egypt's army said militants wearing explosive belts tried to storm a military camp in the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday in an assault that left eight soldiers and 14 attackers dead.

The militants blew themselves up outside the camp after they were prevented by security forces from entering, an army statement said.

"The armed forces were able today to foil a large terrorist operation," the military said.

Militants who have declared allegiance to the Islamic State group (IS) have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen in the Sinai since the military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, following mass protests against him.

More than 100 militants and at least 22 soldiers have been killed in an ongoing operation launched on February 9 against the militants, according to army figures.</s>Egypt's highest appeals court has upheld death sentences for four people over forming a "terrorist cell" to plot attacks on security forces and other institutions.

The court of cassation on Sunday also rejected an appeal by 14 other defendants against sentences of 15 years imprisonment in February over similar charges including joining an outlawed group, a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood. The verdict is final.

Six defendants in the case were sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia. They remain at large and will be re-tried once they are apprehended.

Egypt has cracked down on suspected Islamists since the military ousted president Mohamed Morsi of the Brotherhood in 2013.

Since then, hundreds of Islamists, including Brotherhood members, have been sentenced to death. The authorities have carried out dozens of executions.</s>CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Court of Cassation upheld a five-year jail sentence against prominent opposition activist Alaa Abdel Fattah on Wednesday, judicial sources said, a final ruling that cannot be appealed.

Abdel Fattah, who has already served more than three years in prison, was jailed for protesting without permission in breach of a 2013 law that rights groups say effectively bans protests.

 The blogger and software engineer was a leading voice amongst the tech-savvy liberal youth who initially led the 2011 uprising that ended the 30-year-rule of Hosni Mubarak.

 He is one of several activists jailed since the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests and cracked down on his Muslim Brotherhood movement and secular democracy activists.

 The government has proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization but denies it has cracked down on secular democracy activists.

 Prosecutors said Abdel Fattah was guilty of organizing a protest in November 2013 because he had promoted it on social media.

 Rights groups say authorities were only able to prosecute Abdel Fattah, who did not attend the protest, by invoking a century old law of assembly that institutes collective punishment for all those involved in an illegal gathering. 

 They say the 1914-era law was in fact repealed in 1928 and courts should not be using it. They have sued the president over its use but there has been no response from the government.

 Abdel Fattah is also on trial in a separate case where he is accused of insulting the judiciary, a charge that carries up to three years in jail. A verdict is scheduled for December.

 Egyptian rights activists say they face the worst crackdown in history under general-turned-president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who they accuse of erasing freedoms won in the 2011 uprising.

 Sisi, seen in the West as a bulwark against extremism in the region, has urged his critics to not judge Egypt's rights records by western standards, saying security and economic prosperity are also human rights. 

 

 (Reporting by Haitham Ahmed; Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Jon Boyle)
The Court of Cassation in Egypt upholds life sentences for three Muslim Brotherhood leaders including Mohamed Badie and five-year terms for fourteen others.