File photo: Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi raise his poster and their hands with four raised fingers, which has become a symbol of the Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque, where Morsi supporters had held a sit-in for weeks that was violently dispersed in August, during a protest in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Nov. 8, 2013 (Photo: AP)
Dozens of alleged Muslim Brotherhood members were acquitted on charges of violence, unauthorised protests and sabotage from three different Egyptian courts on Thursday, Al-Ahram’s Arabic news website reported.
In one case, Cairo criminal court acquitted 30 people on charges of violence that took place in the eastern district of Moqattam in front of the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in June.
Prosecution had charged the defendants with possession of weapons, ammunition and explosives.
Another court in the Nile Delta city of Kafr El-Sheikh acquitted 100 people, with only 20 of them present and the rest tried in absentia, from various charges including breaching the protest law.
The controversial anti-demonstrations law, which only allows for police-approved protests and punishes violators with lengthy jail terms and stiff fines, was issued last year to primarily quash the ongoing protests by ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
In the southern city of Assiut, the court acquitted 61 defendants and sentenced 40 others to up to 15 years in jail.
Defendants were charged with burning churches, police posts and public buildings. The violence, allegedly by Morsi supporters, happened in mid-August of 2013, after the forceful disbanding of two main pro-Morsi sit-ins, which killed hundreds.
Following the Islamist leader’s toppling, thousands of Brotherhood members and their supporters were arrested and put on trial, including Morsi himself and top leadership.
Charges against Morsi and his supporters varied from inciting violence and rioting to espionage.
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