Egypt hands stiff jail terms to 23 Morsi supporters

15 sentenced to life in prison for participating in violent 2013 protest against the Islamist president's ouster

By AFP 30 March 2016, 4:00 pm
Illustrative: Supporters of Egypt's ousted president Mohammed Morsi charged with violence chant slogans against the Egyptian military during a trial in Alexandria, Egypt, on Saturday, March 29, 2014. (photo credit: AP/Heba Khamis/File)

CAIRO — An Egyptian court sentenced 23 supporters of Mohammed Morsi to lengthy prison terms on Wednesday over a violent protest against the Islamist president’s ouster in 2013, judicial officials said.

Fifteen defendants were jailed for life, three received 15-year sentences and five were imprisoned for 10 years.

The defendants were found guilty of killing three civilians during the protest in Cairo on July 5, 2013, two days after Morsi’s overthrow, judicial officials said.

They were also convicted of “carrying weapons and attacking state institutions” during the protest near state television headquarters.

Egypt’s ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in a defendant cage in the Police Academy courthouse, May 8, 2014 Cairo, Egypt. (Tarek el-Gabbas/AP)

Egypt’s then army chief and now President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi ousted Morsi after mass street protests against the Islamist’s divisive one-year rule.

Violent demonstrations for his reinstatement followed, lasting several months, but they were crushed by a blistering police crackdown that left hundreds dead and tens of thousands jailed.

Hundreds more have been sentenced to death, including Morsi himself.

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