Egypt jails 35 Muslim Brotherhood members for life over terrorism

Yesterday, authorities in Egypt sentenced 35 Muslim Brotherhood members to life in prison for allegedly forming “terrorist cells” to attack security forces and state institutions.  

The Sohag Criminal Court in central Egypt sentenced another 155 defendants to three to 15 years in prison on similar charges, including plotting to kill public figures and security officials, and joining an outlawed group, a reference to the Brotherhood.  

Todays’s verdict can be appealed, and 124 suspects who remain at large will be re-tried once they are apprehended. The Brotherhood won a series of free elections after Egypt’s 2011 uprising, and a senior Brotherhood figure, Mohammed Morsi, was elected president in 2012.  A year later, the military overthrew Morsi amid mass protests against his rule.  

Egyptian authorities have since branded the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation.