Egypt court gives 126 Muslim Brotherhood supporters 10 years in prison

Egypt court gives 126 Muslim Brotherhood supporters 10 years in prison. (AA).

Kafr El-Sheikh Criminal Court, held in Cairo's Police Academy, sentenced on Sunday 126 Muslim Brotherhood supporters to 10 years in prison for rioting.

The defendants were charged with inciting violence, rioting, possession of weapons, blocking traffic, sabotaging public and private property, belonging to a banned group and terrorising citizens, among other offences.

They were arrested at a protest on 16 August in the Nile Delta's Kafr El-Sheikh governorate following the bloody dispersal of two pro-Brotherhood vigils in Cairo on 14 August that left hundreds dead and thousands more injured.

The court also gave a suspended one year sentence to six minors.

Defendants chanted "Down with military rule" as Judge Hassan Fareed handed down 10-year jail terms to 126 Brotherhood supporters accused of violence and membership of a terrorist group in one of the cases.

A further 37 people received 15-year sentences in a second case related to an alleged attempt to blow up a Cairo metro station.

Sisi, expected to easily win the May 26-27 vote, has signaled there will be no reconciliation with the Brotherhood.

Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie, who was among 683 people sentenced to death last month, made a rare address in court, rejecting the accusations leveled against his group.

"We have never responded to any attack against us with violence," said Badie, addressing the judge in footage uploaded to Youtube. The judiciary was being used in a political conflict the likes of which Egypt had never seen before, he said.

Thousands of Brotherhood members and supporters, including Morsi himself and the group's top leadership, are currently detained or facing trial on a variety of charges, some of which could lead to the death penalty.
The Brotherhood was declared a terrorist organisation by Egypt's interim government in late 2013.