File photo of pro-Morsi protesters (Photo: Al-Ahram)
An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced 23 alleged members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group to life in jail on charges of rioting, using violence, staging unauthorised protests and offending the police and army, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.
The case dates back to the violent events that followed the forceful disbanding of two sit-ins of supporters for the ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
The breakup of the protest camps in Rabaa El-Adawiya and El-Nahda squares, which saw hundreds killed in Cairo, unleashed days of violence and bloody confrontations between pro-Morsi protesters and security forces.
The defendants were arrested during defiant protests against Morsi's ouster in the Nile Delta city of Gharbiya.
Since July 2013 ouster of Morsi, thousands of members and loyalists to the Brotherhood have been arrested and tried on a variety of charges, where hundreds received death sentences.
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