clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Egypt refers Brotherhood supporters to military court

April 6, 2015 at 5:11 pm

An Egyptian prosecutor has referred 187 alleged supporters of the banned Muslim Brotherhood to a military court. They are accused of killing police officers in a 2013 attack on a police station.

Egypt expanded the jurisdiction of military courts in October to permit them to try civilians accused of acts ranging from attacking state facilities to blocking roads, part of a broad crackdown that first targeted Islamists but has expanded to include liberal activists. The change followed some of the worst assaults on security forces since the military removed the first freely-elected Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in the summer of 2013. Military courts in Egypt tend to process cases more quickly than those within the civilian jurisdiction.

The 187 are accused of storming Maghagha Police Station in the southern province of Minya in August 2013, weeks after Morsi’s removal, North Minya public prosecutor Abdul-Raheem Malik told Reuters late on Saturday. He did not specify how many of the 187 are already in custody. They face charges of the murder and attempted murder of police officers, possessing weapons and joining a banned group, Malik added.

The government has accused the Muslim Brotherhood of fomenting an Islamist insurgency after Morsi’s removal, and has killed hundreds of members of the movement. Thousands more have been imprisoned. The Brotherhood insists that it is committed to political change through peaceful means only.