Court hands 15-year-prison sentences to 25 in Rabaa sit-in dispersal case

CAIRO – 12 May 2022: A Cairo criminal court handed 15-year-prison sentences to 25 people in Rabaa sit-in dispersal case, which dates back to 2013, when Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated President Mohamed Morsi was ousted.

On Thursday, the court also sentenced a juvenile to five years in prison in the same case and ordered the acquittal of 12 defendants during the retrial.

In June 2021, Egypt’s Court of Cassation upheld the death sentences  against 12 members of the  banned group of the Muslim Brotherhood, commuted the death sentence to life for 32 others, and upheld previous sentences of imprisonment against other dozens in a case dubbed in media as “Trial of Rabaa sit-in dispersal.”

Also, the case was dropped against late Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed El Erian due to his death in August 2020. The court sentences are unchallengeable.

Those sentenced to death by hanging include Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Hamid al-Bar, Mohamed Ibrahim al-Beltagy, Safwat Hegazy, and Osama Yassin.

The state-owned news MENA agency reported that the case involves 739 defendants including the former Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badie who was sentenced to life in jail.

In September 2018, a Cairo Criminal Court sentenced 75 to death for their involvement in a 2013 Rabaa sit-in protest. They face charges ranging from murder to damaging property.