Egypt issues 24 death sentences in 2 cases 

Egyptian court sentences 24 to death accusing them of being members of the Muslim Brotherhood and killing police officers.

The defendants were charged in two separate cases that involved the targeting of police officers and membership in the Muslim Brotherhood group, which the Egyptian government outlawed following the 2013 coup.

The Damanhour Criminal Court, north of the capital Cairo, handed down death sentences to 16 defendants, including six who were tried in absentia, on charges that included membership in an “outlawed terrorist group”, financing the group and supplying it with arms and ammunition, and taking part in the 2015 bombing of a police bus, which resulted in the killing of three police officers.

In a separate case, the same court sentenced eight persons to death, dropping charges against three other defendants who have already passed away, over the killing of one police officer as he left the house of a friend in 2015.

President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, who ousted the Muslim Brotherhood from power in a 2013 military coup, has overseen an extensive crackdown on political dissent that has steadily tightened in recent years.

READ: Egypt’s continuous state of emergency devastating for rights abuses, CFJ says