43 sentenced to life, 52 acquitted in Al-Fath Mosque incidents

CAIRO – 18 September 2017: Cairo Criminal Court has issued life imprisonment sentences to 43 persons accused of the clashes at the al-Fath mosque after the dispersal of the Rabaa sit-in and acquitted 52 of the accused, including the Irish citizen Ibrahim Halawa and his three sisters of all charges on Monday.

The Muslim Brotherhood leaders Abdul Rahman Al-Barr, Salah Sultan and Ahmed Al-Mughair are among the 43 persons that were sentenced to life imprisonment.

There are 387 members of the Muslim Brotherhood that are accused of desecrating, destroying and barricading inside al-Fath mosque to cause chaos, bully and vandalize public and private facilities alongside with the acquisition of weapons.

Off the accused, 17 were punished with heavy imprisonment for 15 years while 54 of the present accused and 101 of the absent accused were punished for 10 years. Of the present accused, 216 will be imprisoned for 5 years.

On August 17, 2013, Egypt’s security forces had surrounded al-Fath mosque , which took place outside downtown Cairo’s Ramses Square, inside which, a few hundred supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi were hiding, including Muslim Brotherhood supporters who used the mosque as a fortress to protest against ousting Mohammed Morsi.

All the protesters, after a long standoff and confrontations where protesters exchanged fires with the security forces, were taken out of the mosque, and many including, Halawa and his sisters, were arrested.

The clash outside Al-Fath mosque killed 44 people and injured 59, including 22 members of security forces.

Halawa and his sister Nusayba Halawa, have been held in a Cairo jail since 2013. Their trial has been adjourned 20 times, but he was acquitted on Monday of all charges.