Egypt gives 22 Morsi supporters death penalty

Twenty-two supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi have been sentenced to death by an Egyptian court.

The sentence, which was passed on Wednesday, was in relation to an attack on a police station in the town of Kerdasa on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital Cairo which claimed the life of one police officer, AFP reported.

The attack took place on July 3, 2013, the day Egypt’s military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is currently the president of the country, announced Morsi’s dismissal.

The court’s verdict will be confirmed or commuted on April 20 and the defendants have the right to appeal.

In Egypt, death sentences must be approved by the country’s highest Muslim religious authority, the Grand Mufti, who can revise verdicts, although the final decision is issued by the court itself.

On Monday, an Egyptian court condemned the leader of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, and 13 other senior members to death.

The 14 were found guilty of planning attacks against the state. Among the convicts were Muslim Brotherhood spokesperson Mahmoud Ghozlan, the former Kafr el-Sheikh governor, Saad El-Hossainy, and Salah Sultan, a preacher.

In November 2013, the Egyptian government enlisted Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.