Egypt upholds jail terms for ex-president’s supporters

Egypt’s highest appellate court on Monday upheld three-year jail terms handed down earlier against 15 supporters of former President Mohamed Morsi, who was ousted and imprisoned in a 2013 military coup.

The 15 were initially sentenced last year to three years each behind bars for allegedly taking part in “riots” in Egypt’s canal city of Suez in 2014.

The defendants later appealed the jail terms, but Egypt’s Court of Cassation on Monday upheld the sentences, a judicial source said, requesting anonymity as he was unauthorised to speak to media.

Monday’s sentences are final and cannot be appealed.

Egypt has been roiled by turmoil since the military deposed and imprisoned Morsi, the country’s first freely elected president, in a bloody coup in mid-2013.

Since then, Egypt’s post-coup authorities have launched a relentless crackdown on dissent, killing hundreds and jailing thousands for committing alleged “acts of violence”.