Senior Muslim Brotherhood member and former parliament speaker Saad al-Katatni (C-R) sits alongside fellow member Sobhy Saleh (C-L) behind bars in a glass cage during their trial over charges of breaking out of jail during the 2011 uprising against former president Hosni Mubarak's 29-year rule, at a make-shift courthouse in southern Cairo on December 2, 2018. (Photo by Mohamed el-Shahed / AFP)
An Egyptian criminal court sentenced Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and five others figures of the Brotherhood -- which is designated as a terrorist group -- to life in prison on Wednesday on violence-related charges which date back to 2013.
Brotherhood leaders Khairat El-Shater and Mostafa Abdel-Azim, and two others, were also among those convicted to life in prison by the verdict on Wednesday.
Other leading figures including Essam El-Erian, Mohamed El-Beltagy and former parliament speaker Saad Al-Katatni were acquitted, as were three other Brotherhood members.
The court said that late former supreme guide Mahdy Akef had been dropped from the case as he had passed away.
The case dates back to deadly clashes in front of the Muslim Brotherhood’s headquarters in Cairo’s Mokattam in July 2013, which was stormed and ransacked by angry protesters.
The defendants were convicted of “inciting the killing of protesters, inciting violence and terrorism, murder, forming a gang to attack citizens and supplying it with arms and funds.”
The remaining suspects are charged with “terrorising, crowding, murder, joining a group that attacked citizens, damaging private property and possessing arms.”
The verdict is not final as those convicted have the right to appeal.
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