Pro-Morsi protesters get up to 88 years in jail

An Egyptian court has sentenced 11 supporters of ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, to long prison terms of up to 88 years for participating in anti-government demonstrations.

The Saturday ruling handed down prison terms ranging from five to 88 years to the defendants who were detained during a wave of protests following the ouster of the country’s first democratically-elected president in July 2013.

Five of the 11 individuals sentenced on Saturday were tried in absentia.

The development comes after the military-installed government’s prosecutors issued a mass death sentence last month to over 500 Morsi supporters in the same court in Minya, south of the capital, Cairo.

The case comes amid ongoing crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood supporters by Egypt’s military-backed government.

The charges against all of the defendants were linked to protests in the town of Samalut that were triggered by violent crackdown on pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo.

Brotherhood members and supporters have faced crackdown by the military-backed government over the past months.

The Muslim Brotherhood has been declared a “terrorist” organization by Egyptian authorities. Commentators say the labeling justifies punishment of any public show of support for the group.