Egypt court hands down prison sentences to nearly 30 protesters
An Egyptian military court in the province of Assuit has sentenced nearly 30 people to prison for their alleged role in anti-government protests and storming a police station, Press TV reports.
The military court in the central Egyptian province on Thursday handed down jail terms ranging from seven to 20 years - totaling 489 years - to 29 anti-government protesters.
Egyptian judicial sources say the accused were found guilty of violent acts and storming a police station during street protests across Assuit more than two years ago. The incident in 2013 came days after the army ousted Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically-elected president.
Sources said at least 22 of the convicts were sentenced in absentia.
Most of the defendants are said to be members of the Muslim Brotherhood and considered supporters of Morsi.
Tensions intensified in Egypt after Morsi's ouster, which was led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the current president and then head of the armed forces.
The military-backed Egyptian government has blacklisted the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. It also launched a brutal crackdown on Morsi supporters, sentencing many of them to death.
Amnesty International is one of the rights organizations which has denounced the ruling of mass death sentences as an example of the shortcomings of Egypt’s judicial system.
According to a report on the human rights violations in Egypt released by the Egyptian Observatory of Rights and Freedom earlier this month, an estimated 4,800 people have been sentenced by civilian and military courts to a total of 39,000 years behind bars since Morsi's overthrow.
The report said 464 of those tried by Egyptian courts have received death sentences, while seven have been executed.
The Brotherhood says it is committed to entirely peaceful means of activism in its efforts to reverse the ouster and imprisonment of Morsi, who has also been sentenced to death by an Egyptian court.
According to human rights groups, the crackdown on the supporters of Morsi has left over 1,400 people dead and thousands arrested.
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