Egyptian court jails 119 Brotherhood supporters

An Egyptian court has sentenced nearly around 120 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood movement to three years in jail each.

Judicial sources said on Wednesday the dissidents were jailed in connection with protests last October.

The defendants were accused of violating a controversial law against street protests.

Several of them were also members of the April 6th Youth Movement. The group was at the forefront of the 2011 revolution against the long-time rule of Hosni Mubarak.

The latest ruling is seen as part of a violent crackdown, which has led to the death and jailing of Muslim Brotherhood supporters since the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi in July.

Last month, another court sentenced more than five hundred of Morsi supporters to death. That verdict drew harsh criticisms from rights groups and the international community.

Figures show Egypt’s military-backed government has jailed nearly 16,000 people over the past few months.

Despite Cairo’s crackdown, the Brotherhood says the group remains committed to peaceful resistance against the military-installed interim government.

Egypt has been experiencing unrelenting violence since Morsi was ousted on July 3, 2013.

Several international bodies and the UN Human Rights Council have expressed concern over the Egyptian security forces’ heavy-handed crackdown and the killing of peaceful anti-government protesters.

According to the UK-based rights group, Amnesty International, 1,400 people have been killed in the political violence since Morsi’s ouster in July last year, “most of them due to excessive force used by security forces.”