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Egypt court jails 15 Morsi loyalists 10 years over violence

Xinhua, November 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

An Egyptian court sentenced on Thursday 15 supporters of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to 10 years in prison over inciting violence and vandalism in Suez province northeast of the capital Cairo, official MENA news agency reported.

The defendants, mostly from Morsi's now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, have also been accused of assaulting a police officer and a conscript from Suez police station.

Suez Criminal Court also acquitted four defendants in the same case that dates back to 2014 when a group of Morsi's supporters held anti-government protests and riots in support of the deposed Islamist president.

Most of Morsi's loyalists, including the ousted president himself, are currently in custody facing various charges varying from inciting violence to espionage.

The Court of Cassation on Tuesday overturned a 25-year jail term against Morsi in the case of espionage in favor of the Palestinian Hamas movement and ordered the ex-president's retrial. A week earlier, the court overturned the death sentence against Morsi in a 2011 jailbreak case.

On Oct. 22, the same court confirmed a 20-year prison sentence against Morsi over inciting clashes between his supporters and opponents outside the presidential palace in late 2012 that left 10 people dead.

Morsi was overthrown by the army in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his Brotherhood group. Later crackdown on his supporters left about 1,000 of them killed and thousands more arrested.

Since his ouster, the new leadership of former army chief and current President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has been facing a rising wave of anti-government terrorist attacks that left hundreds of police and military men dead, which led Sisi to declare "a war against terrorism." Endit