An Egyptian court on Tuesday sentenced three of the banned Muslim Brotherhood members to death, 20 others to life in prison and one to nine years in jail in 18 different cases.
According to the indictment, the convicts attempted to assassinate a former criminal court judge in Fayoum and police officers.
In 2014, the Public Prosecution filed terror charges against Muslim Brotherhood leaders who operated the group’s secret apparatus, the Committee of Qualitative Operations, and assigned it to carry out assassinations and hostilities against public figures, army soldiers, employees in the Ministry of Interior and the judiciary who violated its orders.
The court’s presiding judge, Yasser Muharram Darweesh, said the defendants had planned to assassinate a criminal court judge in Fayoum, Tareq Abouzeid, while he was driving, but they mistakenly shot at a different vehicle.
They also killed two policemen in Fayoum and planted roadside bombs across much of the province, opened fire at a local police station and carried out surveillance of police officers they intended to assassinate.
The members of these terrorist cells shared tasks that included execution, surveillance and security when they carried out acts of sabotage and violence.
They also shared the tasks of preparing firearms, explosive devices and firebombs to use them in terrorist attacks.
In this context, the Court of Cassation upheld Tuesday prison sentences ranging between three and 15 years against 52 Brotherhood members after rejecting the appeals filed by their advocates. It also acquitted five others.
The convicts are accused of committing violent crimes, carrying out arson attacks, and vandalism on assaulting policemen and citizens, as well as attempted murder during the sit-ins at al-Adwa area in Minya Governorate after ousting former president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
The issued verdicts are final and cannot be appealed.
