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Egypt court overturns life sentence for Brotherhood chief

October 22, 2016 at 3:19 pm

An Egyptian court on Saturday overturned life sentences for Mohamed Badie, the Muslim Brotherhood’s supreme guide, and seven others accused of inciting violence west of Cairo in 2013.

In mid-2014, Badie and seven co-defendants were sentenced to life on charges of inciting violence west of Cairo, in which nine people were killed and 21 others injured.

Six people were slapped with death sentences in absentia in the same case.

On Saturday, the Court of Cassation, Egypt’s highest appellate court, however, accepted an appeal filed by Badie and his co-defendants and ordered a retrial, a judicial source said anonymously due to restrictions on speaking to media.

Defense lawyer Osama al-Helw said the court found an “error” in the trial proceedings of Muslim Brotherhood leader Essam al-Erian, one of the defendants, and ordered a retrial.

Egypt has been racked by turmoil since the military deposed Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, in a 2013 military coup.

Since Morsi’s ouster, Egyptian authorities have launched a crackdown on his supporters and Brotherhood members, killing hundreds and throwing tens of thousands behind bars.

The military-backed authorities have blacklisted the Brotherhood as a “terrorist group” in late 2013.