News / Egypt

Eight more Morsi supporters sentenced to death

Sunday, 07 February 2016 7:20 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 08 February 2016 11:44 AM ]

Senior Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood members gesture from a cage set up at a courthouse as they attend their trial at the police academy on the outskirts of the capital, Cairo, June 2, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

A military court in the Egyptian city of Alexandria has handed down death sentences to eight more supporters of the country’s army-toppled President Mohamed Morsi, Press TV reports.

The court, which issued the sentences on Sunday, has now sent the defendants’ cases to the country’s Grand Mufti Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam, soliciting his legally non-binding opinion in the case.

The defendants face terrorism charges in the case, known as the “advanced operations' committee.” They are accused of administering a so-called “advanced” cell tasked with targeting police and military personnel.

They have pleaded not guilty and will face a final verdict on March 13.

Twenty other defendants, who have likewise received various sentences in the case, also await a ruling in the upcoming court session.

Nineteen of the 28 are in police custody, while the rest are being tried in absentia.

Morsi, affiliated with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, was elected as the country’s president in 2012, but was ousted only a year later in a military coup led by the then army chief and current President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi.

Since the ouster of Morsi, thousands of anti-government protesters, mostly Brotherhood supporters, have been sentenced to jail in civilian and military courts. Cracking down on Morsi’s supporters, the country held mass trials in 2015, when it gave death sentences to many.

The Brotherhood has vowed “peaceful resistance to the coup.”

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk