Egypt Brotherhood chief gets death

A Cairo court confirmed death sentences for Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and 11 other defendants yesterday, and a US-Egyptian citizen was jailed for life over Islamist protest violence.

Judge Mohamed Nagy Shehata also sentenced to death two Islamists who have fled the country, and he handed life terms to 23 detained defendants.

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The defendants were accused of plotting unrest from their headquarters in a sprawling Cairo protest camp in the months after the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

The rulings can be appealed before the Court of Cassation, which has overturned dozens of other death sentences, including against Badie.

So far Egypt has executed one Islamist sentenced to death after Morsi's overthrow, following his conviction of involvement in the murder of a youth during violent protests in July 2013.

Shehata, who has sentenced dozens of Islamists to death in other cases, read out a Quranic verse that stipulates amputation and crucifixion for outlaws, before rendering his verdict on Saturday.

Known as the "Rabaa Operations Room" case, the prosecution accused the defendants of organising months of unrest and protests against the ouster of Morsi, a senior Brotherhood figure himself now on trial.

- Rabaa protest camp -

The Rabaa al-Adawiya protest camp in Cairo was dispersed by police on August 14, 2013 in a 12-hour operation that left hundreds of protesters and about 10 policemen dead.

The Islamist was the country's first freely elected president and he ruled only for a year before the army toppled him, spurred by massive protests demanding his resignation.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former army chief who toppled Morsi and then won an election, has pledged to eradicate the Brotherhood.

The government has blacklisted the movement as a terrorist organisation amid a spike in militant attacks that have killed dozens of policemen and soldiers.