Mohamed El-Shahed, AFP | Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie during a trial in Cairo in Aug. 2015. He was sentenced to life in prison on Sept. 8, 2018.

An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced 75 people to death, including top leaders of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, for their involvement in a 2013 protest that was broken up by security forces in an operation that killed at least 600 people.

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In a case involving 739 defendants facing charges ranging from murder to damaging property, the court also sentenced to life in prison the head of the Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie, and 46 others.

Mahmoud Abu Zaid, a photojournalist known as "Shawkan" whose detention has been decried by rights groups at home and abroad, received five years in prison. He was detained in August 2013, meaning that he should walk free within days for time served.

The sit-in at a square in a Cairo suburb was staged by supporters of Mohammed Morsi, a Brotherhood stalwart. He became Egypt's first freely elected president in 2012 but was ousted a year later by the military, then led by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, following days of street protests calling on him to step down.

One of Morsi's sons, Osama, was among 22 defendants who received 10-year jail terms.

A total of 374 were sentenced to 15 years and 215 to five years.

Proceedings were dropped against five defendants who have died since the trial began.

Saturday's convictions can be appealed.

'The sentence wasn't based on any evidence'

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Egypt sentenced 75 people to death, including prominent Islamist leaders, over a sit-in 2013 which ended in the killing of hundreds of protesters.

Senior Brotherhood leaders Essam al-Erian and Mohamed Beltagi and prominent Islamist preacher Safwat Higazi are among the dozens sentenced to death by hanging.

The August 2013 Rabaa massacre ended in the deaths of hundreds of protesters when Egyptian security services cleared mass camps which had occupied the capital's al-Nahda and Rabaa al-Adawiya squares.

The military raided the two sites after six weeks of peaceful protests in support of President Mohamed Morsi, ousted in a military coup, developed into large camps occupying the squares.

Police and soliers used tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition to disperse the crowds while bulldozing the camp, which broke out into fatal fires. At least 817 were killed in the dispersal - or closer to 1,000 according to Human Rights Watch estimates.

HRW called the massacre "one of the world's largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history".

Egyptian courts jailed 262 people from three years to life in January, for charges ranging from causing he death of two policemen to attempted murder and vandalism, Reuters reported.

The government accused the Muslim Brotherhood of encouraging an Islamist insurgency since Morsi’s removal and said militants had killed hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police.

There were reports that police pursued armed protesters, and Brotherhood sources accused the police of using snipers to shoot civilians from nearby rooftops.

Human Rights Watch branded the violent clash a "massacre" and crime against humanity, alleging that the "use of force was planned and co-ordinated by top government officials, including current president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi​.

Leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie, who had been in hiding for a week before being arrested in a residential flat in Nasr City, and has already been sentenced to life in connection to terrorism offences. The group is deemed a terror organisation by Saudi Arabia.</s>Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, also known as Shawkan, looks on behind a fence during his trial in Cairo, Egypt, on Saturday (Reuters photo)

CAIRO — An Egyptian court on Saturday issued death sentences for 75 people, including prominent Islamist leaders, and jailed more than 600 others over a 2013 sit-in which ended with the killing of hundreds of protesters by security forces.

The sentencing concluded the mass trial of some 700 people accused of offences including murder and inciting violence during the pro-Muslim Brotherhood protest at Rabaa Adawiya Square in Cairo.

The government says many protesters were armed and that eight members of the security forces were killed. It initially said more than 40 police had died.

Rights groups say more than 800 protesters died in the single most deadly incident during the unrest that followed Egypt's 2011 popular uprising. Amnesty International condemned Saturday's decision, calling the trial "disgraceful".

In Saturday's hearing at the vast Tora Prison complex south of Cairo, a criminal court sentenced to death by hanging several prominent Islamists including senior Brotherhood leaders Essam Al Erian and Mohamed Beltagi and preacher Safwat Higazi.

Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Mohamed Badie and dozens more were given life sentences, judicial sources said. Others received jail sentences ranging from five to 15 years.

Cases were dropped against five people who had died while in prison, judicial sources said, without giving further details.

Following weeks of protests in 2013 against the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi by the military — led at the time by Egypt's current President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi — security forces violently broke up the demonstrators at Rabaa Square.

They arrested hundreds of people who were charged with inciting violence, murder and organising illegal protests.

Rights groups have criticised the trial for including many peaceful protesters and journalists.

An award-winning photographer who covered the protests, Mahmoud Abu Zeid, was sentenced to five years in jail, but would soon be released because his five years in detention during the trial are counted towards the sentence, judicial sources said.

Abu Zeid, also known as Shawkan, was awarded a United Nations press freedom prize this year. He was charged with belonging to a banned group and possessing firearms.

"We condemn today's verdict in the strongest terms," Amnesty International said in a statement. "The fact that not a single police officer has been brought to account... shows what a mockery of justice this trial was."

Since Sisi was elected president in 2014, authorities have justified a crackdown on dissent and freedoms as being directed at militants and 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 organisation or planning to carry out an attack.

Supporters say a security crackdown is needed to stabilise Egypt, which still faces an Islamist insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula and is reeling financially from years of unrest.

Critics say the erosion of freedoms and silencing of political opponents is the worst Egypt has seen in its modern history.</s>An Egyptian court has sentenced 75 people to death, including senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, over a 2013 sit-in protest in Cairo that ended with the killing of hundreds of protesters.

Senior Brotherhood leaders Essam el-Erian and Mohamed Beltagi were sentenced to death, while Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood's spiritual leader, was handed a life sentence.

Prominent photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, also known as Shawkan, was handed a five-year sentence but should walk free for time served. He was arrested in August 2013 while covering the killings in Cairo.

Lawyers for Shawkan said he would be out in a "few days".

Those sentenced on Saturday are accused of security-related offences, including incitement to violence and organising illegal protests.

On August 14, 2013, police dispersed a mass sit-in protest in Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya Square. The security forces killed more than 800 people in a matter of hours, in what Human Rights Watch (HRW) concluded "likely amounted to crimes against humanity".

Government forces moved in with armoured vehicles, bulldozers, and hundreds of security forces moving in the early hours.

According to HRW, about 85,000 protesters joined the sit-in, which extended for over 45 days and grew larger and more organised with time.

The protest was staged by supporters of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first elected president and Muslim Brotherhood leader, who was overthrown by the military a few weeks earlier.

Thousands were arrested on the day of the massacre and in the months following.</s>A court in Egypt’s Cairo on Saturday sentenced 75 members and affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood to death in a mass trial of 739 people who had held protests in favour of former President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. All the accused were charged after authorities violently dispersed the protest at Rabaa al-Adawiya square in Cairo on August 14, 2013, killing hundreds.

The 75 sentenced to death face several charges, from murder and “incitement to break the law” to “membership of a banned group” and “being part of an illegal gathering”, The Guardian reported. The most prominent figures who were handed the death penalty were senior Muslim Brotherhood leader Essam el-Erian, politician Mohamed el-Beltagy, Salafi cleric Safwat Hegazy, former Youth Minister Osama Yassin and cleric Abdel-Rahman el-Barr.

The court also sentenced the Muslim Brotherhood’s supreme leader, Mohammed Badie, and 46 others to life imprisonment.

As many as 374 accused, mostly Morsi supporters, were sentenced to 15 years in detention. Osama Morsi, the son of the detained Mohamed Morsi and 21 others were jailed for 10 years. As many as 215 accused, including photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, were sentenced to five years in jail.

Rights group Amnesty International had earlier called the trial “grossly unfair” and “a grotesque parody of justice”. The 2013 Egyptian coup saw of the end of the Muslim Brotherhood’s government, and brought Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to power.</s>An Egyptian court on Saturday issued death sentences for 75 people, including prominent Islamist leaders, and jailed more than 600 others over a 2013 sit-in which ended with the killing of hundreds of protesters by security forces.

The sentencing concluded the mass trial of some 700 people accused of offences including murder and inciting violence during the pro-Muslim Brotherhood protest at Rabaa Adawiya square in Cairo.

The government says many protesters were armed and that eight members of the security forces were killed. It initially said more than 40 police had died.

Rights groups say more than 800 protesters died in the single most deadly incident during the unrest that followed Egypt’s 2011 popular uprising. Amnesty International condemned Saturday’s decision, calling the trial “disgraceful”.

In Saturday’s hearing at the vast Tora prison complex south of Cairo, a criminal court sentenced to death by hanging several prominent Islamists including senior Brotherhood leaders Essam al-Erian and Mohamed Beltagi and preacher Safwat Higazi.

Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Mohamed Badie and dozens more were given life sentences, judicial sources said. Others received jail sentences ranging from five to 15 years.

Cases were dropped against five people who had died while in prison, judicial sources said, without giving further details.

Following weeks of protests in 2013 against the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi by the military — led at the time by Egypt’s current president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi — security forces violently broke up the demonstrators at Rabaa square.

They arrested hundreds of people who were charged with inciting violence, murder and organizing illegal protests.

Rights groups have criticized the trial for including many peaceful protesters and journalists.

An award-winning photographer who covered the protests, Mahmoud Abu Zeid, was sentenced to five years in jail, but would soon be released because his five years in detention during the trial are counted toward the sentence, judicial sources said.

Abu Zeid, also known as Shawkan, was awarded a United Nations press freedom prize this year. He was charged with belonging to a banned group and possessing firearms.

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An Egyptian court on Saturday issued death sentences for 75 people, including prominent Islamist leaders, and jailed more than 600 others over a 2013 sit-in which ended with the killing of hundreds of protesters by security forces.

CAIRO: An Egyptian court sentenced 75 people to death on Saturday including prominent Islamist leaders Essam al-Erian and Mohamed Beltagi over a 2013 sit-in which ended with security forces killing hundreds of protesters.

The sentencing, which included jail terms for more than 600 others, concluded a mass trial of people accused of murder and inciting violence during the pro-Muslim Brotherhood protest at Rabaa Adawiya square in Cairo.

The decision can be appealed within 60 days.

Rabaa square was the single most deadly incident in unrest which followed the 2011 popular uprising that toppled Egypt's longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.

It occurred weeks after the military ousted Egypt's first freely elected head of state, Islamist president Mohamed Mursi.

The government says many protesters were armed and that eight members of the security forces were killed.

Rights groups say more than 800 protesters died. Amnesty International condemned Saturday's decision, calling the trial "disgraceful".

Those sentenced to jail included a U.S. citizen, Moustafa Kassem, rights group Pretrial Rights International said. Washington is Cairo's closest Western ally and one of its top aid donors.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday met U.S. Central Command chief General Joseph Votel as the two countries launched a joint military exercise off Egypt's Mediterranean coast.

In Saturday's hearing at the vast Tora prison complex south of Cairo, a criminal court sentenced to death by hanging several prominent Islamists including senior Brotherhood leaders al-Erian and Beltagi and preacher Safwat Higazi.

Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Mohamed Badie and dozens more were given life sentences, judicial sources said. Others received jail sentences ranging from five to 15 years.

Cases were dropped against five people who died while in prison, judicial sources said.

Following weeks of protests against the ouster of Islamist President Mursi by the military, which at the time was led by current president Sisi, security forces violently broke up the Rabaa square demonstration.

They arrested hundreds of people who were charged with inciting violence, murder and organising illegal protests.

Rights groups have criticised the trial for including many peaceful protesters and journalists.

An award-winning photographer who covered the protests, Mahmoud Abu Zeid, was sentenced to five years in jail, but would soon be released because his five years in detention during the trial are counted towards the sentence, judicial sources said.

Abu Zeid, also known as Shawkan, was awarded a UN World Press Freedom Prize this year. He was charged with belonging to a banned group and possessing firearms.

"We condemn today's verdict in the strongest terms," Amnesty International said in a statement. "The fact that not a single police officer has been brought to account ... shows what a mockery of justice this trial was."

Since Sisi was elected president in 2014, authorities have justified a crackdown on dissent and freedoms as being directed at militants and 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 organisation or planning to carry out an attack. Often the sentences are not carried out, but rights groups say hangings have increased in recent years, with dozens taking place each year.

For executions to take place, Sisi must issue a final approval.

Supporters say a security crackdown is needed to stabilise Egypt, which still faces an Islamist insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula and is reeling financially from years of unrest.

Critics say the erosion of freedoms and silencing of political opponents is the worst Egypt has seen in its modern history.</s>An Egyptian court has sentenced 75 prominent members and affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood to death, as part of a mass trial that includes 739 people charged after the violent dispersal of a protest camp in support of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The majority of protesters who died in the dispersal at Rabaa al-Adawiya square in Cairo were pro-Morsi protesters and Brotherhood members and affiliates. They had staged a sit-in days before Morsi was ousted by Abdel Fatah al-Sisi in a military coup on 3 July 2013, and continued the protest until it was violently dispersed on 14 August 2013.



The 75 face the death penalty for a range of offences, from murder to “incitement to break the law”, membership of a banned group or being part of an illegal gathering.

The verdict, by judge Hassan Farid el-Shami, was announced on Saturday in Cairo’s heavily fortified Tora prison courthouse, in a trial Amnesty International has condemned as “a grotesque parody of justice”.

Among those who received death sentences were 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 court also sentenced the group’s supreme leader, Mohammed Badie, in addition to 46 others, to life in prison.

Five defendants died during the legal process. A total of 374 defendants, mainly Morsi suppporters, were given 15 years in detention, while Osama Morsi, the son of the detained former president, as well as 21 others, were sentenced to 10 years.

The judge also sentenced 215 defendants, including photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, known as Shawkan, to five years, causing dozens of defendants in the soundproof cage to rejoice.

“He [Shawkan] already spent five years, which means he will get out,” lawyer Karim Abdel Rady wrote on Twitter, adding that despite the release Shawkan will be on probation for another five years.

“Assuming that they [Shawkan and the other 214 defendants] have not been sentenced in other cases or that they are not held in pre-trial detention in other cases, they should be released,” Amnesty International’s Egypt campaigner, Hussein Baoumi, told the Guardian.

“This raises an important point, which is the practice of prolonged pre-trial detention, which is so commonplace in the Egyptian legal system and effectively [renders] defendants in Egypt guilty until proven otherwise,” Baoumi added.

Several others as well as Shawkan have already spent five years in detention, two years of which were spent during the prosecution’s investigations, and all the verdicts can be appealed. Shawkan, who was arrested in 2013, went to cover the raid on the protest camp at Rabaa for the UK-based photo agency Demotix.

He was frequently pictured during the trial posing as though he was holding a camera in the defendants’ cage, an attempt to demonstrate to the world that Egypt had incarcerated a journalist for doing their job. Egypt is currently ranked 161 out of 180 countries for journalistic safety and freedom of the press by Reporters Without Borders.

The final verdict ended a prolonged period of pre-trial detention, long past the two-year legal limit in Egypt, amid a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood group as well as all political opposition to the rule of Sisi.

“The trial from the start lacked any standards of a fair trial. This is a classic example of why Egypt needs to abolish the death penalty,” said Baoumi.

Saturday’s case is one of dozens that were brought after the Rabaa massacre, with thousands of Brotherhood members and affiliates accused of committing acts of terrorism and violence.

Outside the courthouse, a female relative of former youth minister Osama Yassin, who was sentenced to death, said the verdicts were “absurd and unfair”. “They were the ones getting killed in Rabaa, yet they are the ones now being trialled and given death sentences.”

Baoumi said that the court had not approved all the requested witnesses. “The defence wanted to summon around 230-240 witnesses, but the court only approved 50-60 witnesses. He added that the “judge refused to admit into evidence several CDs that were were favourable to the defence”.

Human Rights Watch estimates that at least 817 people were killed on 14 August 2013, when Egyptian security forces attacked the camp at Rabaa al-Adawiya square in Cairo, in an act the watchdog labelled “likely crimes against humanity”.</s>An Egyptian court has ruled 75 people must be executed for their involvement in a sit-in protest by Islamists in 2013 which was broken up by security forces, leaving at least 600 people dead.

Those convicted, in a case involving 739 defendants, included senior leaders of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Charges ranged from murder to damaging property. The court in Cairo sentenced the head of the Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie, and 46 others to life in prison.

The sit-in at a square in a Cairo suburb was staged by supporters of Mohammed Morsi, a Brotherhood stalwart.

He became Egypt’s first freely elected President in 2012 but was ousted a year later by the military, then led by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

One of Mr Morsi’s sons, Osama, was among 22 defendants who received 10-year jail terms. A total of 374 people were sentenced to 15 years and 215 to five years. The convictions can be subject to appeal.</s>(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – An Egyptian court on Saturday upheld death sentences against 75 people for participating in a 2013 sit-in protest in support of deposed President Mohammed Morsi.

Those convicted included senior officials in Morsi’s now-banned Muslim Brotherhood group, state television reported on its website.

BThirty-one of the 75 defendants were tried in absentia.

The head of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie, was sentenced to 25 years in jail in the same case.

In July, the Cairo Criminal Court recommended death sentences for the 75 defendants.

The court also announced that the sentences would be referred to the country’s chief Islamic Legal Authority, the grand mufti, for a non-binding opinion, as required by Egyptian law.

The same court issued Saturday’s ruling after consultations with the mufti.

The mufti’s opinion was not released but it appears that he did not take the unusual step of opposing the death sentences.

Among the accused in the case is award-winning photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, who was on Saturday given five years in prison.

Abu Zeid, also known as Shawkan, has been in jail since August 14, 2013, when he was arrested while covering the sit-in.

Procedures will now start for releasing Shawkan, 30, because he has already served more than five years in pre-trial detention, judicial sources said.

On Saturday, the court also sentenced 46 others to 25 years in prison each in the same case.

Prison terms ranging from 15 to five years were given to 612 co-defendants.

Charges were dropped against five other defendants who had died since the legal proceedings began.

The court also ruled that all the rulings could be appealed.

The case is related to the sit-in protest staged in mid-2013 by Morsi’s loyalists in Rabaa al-Adawiya Square in Cairo.

In August 2013, security forces cleared the protest with force.

The operation, in which hundreds of people were killed, came more than a month after the army deposed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected but divisive president.

The defendants were charged with murder, holding an armed gathering, damaging public property, illegal possession of weapons and belonging to an outlawed group, a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood.

“These sentences were handed down in a disgraceful mass trial of more than 700 people, and we condemn today’s verdict in the strongest terms,” said Najia Bounaim, the watchdog’s North Africa campaigns director.

“The death penalty should never be an option under any circumstances.

“The fact that not a single police officer has been brought to account for the killing of at least 900 people in the Rabaa and Nahda protests shows what a mockery of justice this trial was,” she added, citing another pro-Morsi sit-in held in mid-2013 near Cairo.

The Egyptian government has repeatedly said that the country’s judiciary operates independently.

Months after Morsi’s ouster, Egyptian authorities declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation and rounded up thousands of its members and loyalists in the toughest crackdown on the group since it was created in 1928. (dpa/NAN)
A court in Egypt sentences 75 people to death for participating in a pro-Morsi sit-in protest in a Cairo suburb in 2013. The breakup of that protest at Rabaa Square by Egyptian authorities resulted in over 600 deaths. Of the 739 defendants, Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and 46 others are sentenced to life in prison, 374 receive 15-year jail terms, 22 are sentenced to 10 years and 215 people, including Mahmoud Abu Zeid (Shawkan), to five years in jail.