Egypt sentences 75 people to death over 2013 sit-in

Egypt on Saturday sentenced 75 people to death , including prominent Islamist leaders, over a 2013 pro-Muslim Brotherhood sit-in which ended with the killing of hundreds of protesters by security forces.

Others being tried in the case, including Brotherhood spiritual leader Mohamed Badie, were handed life sentences, judicial sources said.

Those being sentenced are accused of security-related offenses including incitement to violence, murder and organising illegal protests.

“Mostafa Abdel Hay Huseein Al Faramawy, Ahmed Farouk Kamel Mohamed, Haitham Sayed, Mohamed Mahmoud Ali, Abdelazim Ibrahim, Ismail Mohamed Rashwan, Yassin Imaim Mohamed Soliman, [sentences them] to death by hanging for the crimes they have committed,“Presiding Judge, Hassan Farid said.

Rights groups have criticised the mass trial of more than 700 people in what has become known as the Rabaa case, after Rabaa Adawiya square where the sit-in took place in Cairo.

Those sentenced to death by hanging include senior Brotherhood leaders Essam al-Erian and Mohamed Beltagi and prominent Islamist preacher Safwat Higazi.

The dispersal of the sit-in in August 2013 came weeks after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, then military chief, ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi after protests against Brotherhood rule.
Amnesty International says more than 800 protesters were killed. The government has said many protesters were armed, and that 43 police were killed.

Since Sisi took power in 2014, authorities have justified a crackdown on dissent and freedoms as being directed at terrorists and saboteurs trying to undermine the state.

Death sentences have been handed down to hundreds of his political opponents on charges such as belonging to an illegal organisation or planning to carry out an attack.