Egypt Court Sentences 10 Muslim Brotherhood Members to Death

By Staff, Agencies

A court in Egypt ruled that ten members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood faction would receive the death sentence for plotting attacks against the country’s law enforcement officers, state media reported Sunday.

Those sentenced were part of a group called the “Helwan Brigades” and planned to attack officers as a component of a larger scheme to overthrow the government, according to Egypt’s state-run Middle East News Agency [MENA].

No additional information regarding the identities of those sentenced or how they pleaded to the charges was released.

The ruling still requires ratification from Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam, the country’s most senior religious authority, MENA reported.

Membership in the Muslim Brotherhood is illegal in Egypt - in 2013, a Cairo court designated “all activities” of the group as unlawful after former president Mohamed Morsi was ousted from office, according to the BBC.

Cairo designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, but the group argues its means are peaceful, according to Reuters.

In 2015, Egypt’s courts also charged 215 Helwan Brigades group members for the deaths of six law enforcement officers and possession of arms, as well as for wounding a number of civilians, the BBC reported.