Egypt court due to deliver final verdicts in Brotherhood case

PanARMENIAN.Net - A court in Egypt is due to deliver Saturday, June 21, final verdicts for hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters accused of attacking a police station in 2013, according to BBC News.

A judge recommended the death penalty for the 683 defendants, in a mass trial in April that drew widespread criticism from human rights groups. Mohammed Badie, leader of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, is among them.

The military-installed government has sentenced at least 1,000 of its opponents since December.

Authorities have cracked down harshly on Islamists since former President Mohammed Morsi, who belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, was removed by the military in July 2013 following mass protests.

The verdict is due to be delivered by a court in the town of Minya, south of Cairo, the BBC says.

The defendants face charges over an attack on a police station in Minya on August 14, 2013, in which policemen were killed. Hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters were also killed in clashes with police in Cairo that day.

Defense lawyers called the mass trial "farcical" and said many of those accused were not present during the clashes.

Following April's trial, the recommended death sentences were referred to the Grand Mufti - Egypt's top Islamic authority - for review. The court was due to consider his opinion before issuing its final decision.

On Thursday, Badie and 13 others were also given recommended death sentences over a separate case involving deadly clashes last year.