Egypt MB leader heads to criminal court

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s supreme guide, Mohamed Badie, along with nearly 200 of the members of the group have been sent to a criminal court to stand trial.

Egyptian prosecutors charged the defendants with inciting violence in a demonstration against the military-backed interim government in the city of Port Said last August, judicial sources said on Monday.

The deadly government crackdown left five people dead during the demonstrations, which comprised of sit-ins by the supporters of ousted president, Mohamed Morsi.

Meanwhile, a Cairo court has handed three-year jail sentences to 12 Muslim Brotherhood supporters over their role in the protests against Morsi’s ouster by the military. Seven students and three female citizens are among the defendants.

Over the past week, dozens of anti-government protesters have received similar sentences of up to six years in jail.

Egypt has been experiencing unrelenting violence since last July when the army ousted the country’s first democratically-elected president Morsi, suspended the constitution, and dissolved the parliament. It also appointed the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court Adly Mahmoud Mansour as the new interim president.

The interim government has launched a bloody crackdown on Morsi’s supporters and arrested thousands of Brotherhood members, including the party’s senior leaders.

On December 25, the military-appointed government listed the movement as a “terrorist” organization over alleged involvement in a deadly bombing, without investigation or providing any evidence.