11 charged with police station raid sentenced to 88 years

Elsayed Gamal El-Deen, Saturday 26 Apr 2014

The verdict was issued by the same judge that sentenced 529 with death penalty last March, says lawyer

Upper Egypt's Minya criminal court sentenced on Saturday 11 accused of attacking a police station last August with 57 to 88 years in prison.

The defendants were convicted of attacking a police station in Minya's Samalut and its officers last August, in the violence that followed the dispersal of the pro-Morsi Rabaa Al-Adawyia sit-in that left hundreds dead.

According to the defendants lawyer Khaled El-Komy, Saturday's verdict was issued by Judge Saeed Youssef who ordered the execution of 529 last March.

On 24 March, an Upper Egyptian court in Minya sentenced 529 supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi to death on charges of murdering Mostafa El-Attar, deputy commander of the Matay district police station, who was killed during riots in the aftermath of the violent dispersal of two pro-Morsi sit-ins in August.

The verdict, which is still awaiting the Mufti's ratification, was condemned by many for being 'fast and violating the criminal procedure law'.

According to a report issued by the National Council for Human Rights, the dispersal of the pro-Morsi camp was followed by nationwide violence that reached 22 Egyptian governorates, with attacks on police stations and churches that left 686 left dead, including 64 members of the police. 

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