Egypt court sets 28 April to rule in trial of Brotherhood leader, 682 others

Ahram Online , Tuesday 25 Mar 2014

A southern Egyptian court sets 28 April as date to deliver sentence in the trial of Brotherhood leader and 682 others on charges of murder and disrupting the public order among others

A southern Egyptian court has set April 28 as the date for a ruling on a case where 683 suspected Islamists, including the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, Mohamed Badie, face several charges, including murder, a judicial source said.

The mass trial, which opened on Tuesday in a court in the southern governorate of Minya, came a day after the same court handed down death sentences to 529 supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi.

Brotherhood Supreme Guide, Mohamed Badie and the other co-defendants face numerous charges including murder, disrupting public order, and attacking public and private property, according to judicial sources.

Badie, 70, faces multiple trials on an array of charges including inciting murder and belonging to a terrorist group.

On Monday, a southern Egyptian court sentenced 529 Brotherhood followers to death over murder and other offences, in an escalation of an ongoing crackdown campaign by authorities against Islamists.

The verdict drew a chorus of condemnation from rights groups, Washington, and the European Union, with many questioning the fairness of the proceedings.

Experts argue that what they say are the biggest mass sentences in Egypt's modern history are likely to be overturned on appeal.

The allegations are related to violence that broke out in Minya in the aftermath of the forced dispersal of two Cairo pro-Morsi protest camps on 14 August.

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