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Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie sentenced to 'life in prison' - on top of death sentence

Sentence over the killing of five people in an attack on a police station in 2013

Saturday 22 August 2015 16:01 BST

Mohamed Badie and 13 others were sentenced to life in jail on charges of murder and inciting violence (Getty)

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie has been sentenced to life in prison for murder and inciting violence.

Egypt’s state-run news agency has said that Mr Badie along with 16 others has been sentenced to life in prison on charges relating to the killing of five people in an attack on a police station in 2013.

The attack came two days after bloody clashes in Cairo between security forces and Islamist supporters of Mohamed Morsi, following the army removing him from power. A wave of violence swept over Egypt following the mass protests against Morsi’s rule with hundreds left lead after the clashes in Rabaa al-Adawiya Square.

It has been widely reported that Mr Badie and other senior figures of the Muslim Brotherhood were accused of inciting members to attack the police station and kill its officers and soldiers.

In pictures: Egyptian relatives react outside a court after a judge sentenced 683 to death

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1/10In pictures: Egyptian relatives react outside a court after a judge sentenced 683 to death

In pictures: Egyptian relatives react outside a court after a judge sentenced 683 to death

Egypt

Egyptian relatives react outside a court during the trial of supporters of toppled president Mohamed Morsi in Minya

In pictures: Egyptian relatives react outside a court after a judge sentenced 683 to death

Egypt

Egyptian women overcome by emotion fall to the ground after a judge sentenced to death more than 680 alleged supporters of the country's ousted Islamist president over acts of violence and the murder of policemen in the latest mass trial in the southern city of Minya

In pictures: Egyptian relatives react outside a court after a judge sentenced 683 to death

Egypt

Egyptian relatives of sentenced supporters of toppled president Mohammed Morsi, who were convicted for storming a police station in al-Idwa city and killing a police officer, react outside the court in southern Minya province

In pictures: Egyptian relatives react outside a court after a judge sentenced 683 to death

Egypt

Egyptians react outside the courtroom in Egypt's southern province of Minya

In pictures: Egyptian relatives react outside a court after a judge sentenced 683 to death

Egypt

Egyptian policemen block the road as they stand guard outside a court during the trial of supporters of toppled president Mohamed Morsi in Minya

In pictures: Egyptian relatives react outside a court after a judge sentenced 683 to death

Egypt

Only 70 out of 683 accused are in custody, according to lawyers. In a separate mass trial, the court also sentenced 37 people to death and 491 to life in prison on separate charges of rioting and killing a police officer in another town in Minya

In pictures: Egyptian relatives react outside a court after a judge sentenced 683 to death

Egypt

A woman shouts outside a court during the trial of supporters of toppled president Mohamed Morsi in Minya

In pictures: Egyptian relatives react outside a court after a judge sentenced 683 to death

Egypt

Egyptian defendants' relatives mourn after Egypt court refers 638 Morsi backers, including the Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie to mufti for death sentence in the latest mass trial in the southern city of Minya

In pictures: Egyptian relatives react outside a court after a judge sentenced 683 to death

Egypt

Families of prisoners grieve near the court building

In pictures: Egyptian relatives react outside a court after a judge sentenced 683 to death

Egypt

Lawyer Ahmed Hefni told reporters outside the court that the death sentences must be approved by Egypt's mufti, the top Islamic official. However, his opinion is not legally binding, and is instead considered a formality

Charges ranged from murder and inciting violence to stealing weapons and destruction of public and private property.

The court sentenced 76 others in absentia to the same punishment. Mohamed Badie has already been sentenced to death and to life in prison in other trials.

The case is one of a series of mass trials involving supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood since they were toppled from power in 2013.

Additional reporting by agencies

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