Morsi’s nephew handed 3 year jail term

An Egyptian court has sentenced the nephew of former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and 26 other to three years in prison each after they were convicted of violence in the eastern Nile Delta province.

“The criminal court of Belbeis in Sharkia province today sentenced Mohamed Saeed Morsi and his friend Abdullah Hamadeh to three years in prison for being involved in rioting at Zagazig University in early January 2014,” Mohammed Ahmed, the defence lawyer, said.

The court itself also punished 26 others in another case which occurred in the cities of Minya Al-Qarain and Al-Sharqiya [to 3 years as well] after being convicted of mass and violent incidents.

The two verdicts are subject to appeal before the Court of Cassation within 60 days, according to Egyptian law.

Al-Zagazig prosecutors referred the defendants in the first case where Mohammed Said Morsi and his friend Abdullah Hamadeh were accused of criminal offenses at the end of January 2014. The defendants were referred in a second case where 26 were accused of criminal offenses in early 2016.

The prosecution charged the accused with “joining an illegal group [in reference to the Muslim Brotherhood], gathering and incitement to violence and disrupting the Constitution and the law.” The defendants deny all the charges.

Since the coup against Morsi in 2013 led by current President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, Egyptian authorities have crackdown on members of the Muslim Brotherhood accusing them of “inciting violence and terrorism”. The organisation was later designated as a “terrorist” group.