Egyptian court sentences Muslim Brotherhood leaders to death
Shafaq News/ On Monday, Egypt's Emergency State Security Criminal Court handed down death sentences to eight leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, including the eighth Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, 80-year-old Mohammed Badie, who has been in prison for over a decade in connection with the case widely known as the "Platform Events."
The "Platform Events" trace back to 2013, days after the military ousted the late President Mohamed Mursi, affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Among those sentenced to death was Acting Guide Mahmoud Ezzat, 79, arrested in August 2020 in Cairo after years in hiding.
Six other leaders, namely Mohamed El-Beltagy, Amr Mohamed Zaki, Osama Yassin, Safwat Hegazy, Assem Abdel Majed, and Muhammad Abdel Maqsoud, also received the death penalty.
The Supreme State Security Prosecution referred the case to the State Security Criminal Court in April 2021.
The case involved accusations of the leaders organizing a gathering extending from the Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in on Al-Nasr Road, east of Cairo, to the Platform memorial.
The investigations claimed that the leaders devised a plan of events and assigned roles to the accused, leading to the intentional killing of Officer Sharif Al-Sibai Abdel-Sadiq and 14 citizens, with attempted killings of security forces and other citizens.
Evidence against the accused was established based on the testimony of 57 individuals, including officers, employees, and citizens who witnessed the events.
The court also handed life imprisonment to 37 individuals, 15 years to six defendants, and ten years to seven others. Meanwhile, 21 defendants were acquitted in the case, as reported by Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper.
The death sentences and the broader crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood since Mursi's overthrow in 2013 have faced criticism from both local and international human rights organizations.
Human Rights Watch documented the killing of at least 1,185 people during protests following Mursi's ouster in 2013, citing security forces' systematic use of lethal force.
