text: An American-Egyptian citizen was jailed for life as an Egyptian judge handed down harsh punishments to now outlawed Muslim group. American Mohamed Soltan, 27, and 36 others were given life sentences as Mohamed Badie, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, and 13 other defendants were ordered to be executed. The defendants were found guilty of plotting unrest from their headquarters in a sprawling Cairo protest camp in the months after a military coup overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. Scroll down for video . Mohamed Soltan, 27, was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of plotting unrest against the military-backed government that overthrew former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi in a 2013 coup . The American-Egyptian citizen, who grew up in Michigan, Missouri and Ohio before attending Ohio State, moved to Egypt to be closer to his mother (right) during her cancer treatments . The young man has been on a hunger strike protesting his arrest and has done 'irreparable damage' to his body including losing roughly 100 pounds. Above, his father was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood . Judge Mohamed Nagy Shehata is known for his harsh rulings in cases involving the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt has banned and labeled a terrorist group. Soltan, who grew up in Missouri, Michigan and Ohio and graduated from Ohio State in 2012, has been on a hunger strike over his detention for more than 14 months. His family called for Mohamed's immediate release in a statement after the verdict, charging that there was no evidence against him. He is not a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, according to the Washington Post. His father Salah Soltan, who was outspoken in support of the Muslim Brotherhood and served in the Morsi administration, was among the 14 detainees sentenced to death. The US embassy in Cairo said in a statement that it was 'gravely concerned' about Mohamed Soltan and would 'continue to monitor his case closely and to provide him with all possible support.' The State Department later that said: 'The US government is deeply disappointed in the Egyptian court’s decision in the case of US citizen Mohamed Soltan.' It said that the US 'reiterates our call for the release of Mr. Soltan on humanitarian grounds, and we urge the Government of Egypt to redress this verdict.' Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie, pictured at a trial earlier this year, has had his death sentence confirmed by a Cairo judge . Badie (front) and his fellow defendants including Soltan were found guilty of plotting unrest in July 2013 . The young man had been working at an oil services company in Cairo after moving to Egypt in 2012 to be near his mother receiving cancer treatments. Soltan had criticized former Egyptian president Morsi but did not approve of his forcible removal by the military roughly a year after he took office. He was shot in the arm during an August 13, 2013 protest where human rights groups estimated 1,000 people were killed by the military, according to the New York Times. Police moved in to disperse the camp after weeks of failed European and US-brokered negotiations with the Brotherhood, who publicly insisted on Morsi's return after he was toppled by the military amid another set of protests. Soltan, who had been working as a translator for Western journalists, was arrested several days later and has not been released since. A former basketball player, his hunger strike has caused 'severe, in some cases irreparable, damage to his body,' according to US diplomats working on his case. In May last year he was thought to have lost 98 pounds. The dual citizen (left) had worked as a translator for journalists during protests in the summer of 2013 (right) Egyptian Judge Mohammed Nagi Shehata reads the verdicts in a cases in Cairo, on Saturday. He has made a series of harsh rulings against Egyptian Islamists . His health earlier this year was said to be dire, according to Al Jazeera. Saturday's sentences come days after the US released hundreds of millions of dollars in aid for the Middle Eastern country that had been held up because of concerns about repression. Soltan's family has criticized the Obama administration for not doing enough to free their son. The State Department has refused to call the military take over in 2013 a coup. The rulings can be appealed before the Court of Cassation, which has overturned dozens of other death sentences, including against Badie. So far Egypt has executed one Islamist sentenced to death after Morsi's overthrow, following his conviction of involvement in the murder of a youth during violent protests in July 2013. Judge Shehata read out a Koranic verse that stipulates amputation and crucifixion for outlaws, before rendering his verdict on Saturday. At a previous session, he had sought the opinion of the country's mufti, the Islamic legal authority who has an advisory role under Egyptian law, on the death sentences. He has previously sentenced hundreds of Islamists at a time to death and also gave prison terms to Al Jazeera journalists for reporting false news, though no evidence of false reports was given. Above, pro-Morsi Egyptian protesters in 2013 . Known as the 'Rabaa Operations Room' case, the prosecution accused the defendants of organizing months of unrest and protests against the ouster of Morsi, who is himself now on trial. The Muslim Brotherhood had said that the protests were peaceful and no 'operation room' existed. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former army chief who toppled Morsi and then won an election, has pledged to eradicate the Muslim Brotherhood. The government has blacklisted the movement amid a spike in militant attacks that have killed dozens of policemen and soldiers. The deadliest attacks have been claimed by jihadists in the Sinai Peninsula and in Cairo, though Brotherhood insists it is committed to non-violence. But decapitated and driven underground, the Islamist movement is believed to have radicalised with members adopting militant tactics against policemen.
target: Confirmed death sentences for Muslim Brotherhood leader and 13 others .
  American-Egyptian Mohamed Soltan, 27,sentenced to life in prison .
  He lived in Missouri, Michigan and Ohio before moving to Egypt in 2012 .
  Found guilty of 'plotting unrest' after coup against president Morsi in 2013 .
  Ohio State graduate had worked as journalists' translator at protest site .
  He had lost 98 pounds during his hunger strike as of last year .