Badie’s life sentence over ‘Arab police station case' revoked

CAIRO - 9 May 2017: The Court of Cassation has revoked verdicts ranging between a life and 10 years in prison against the former supreme guide of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group Mohamed Badie and other 49 co-defendants over charges of inciting violence in August 2013.

The court accepted on Tuesday only 50 defendants’ appeals against charges of inciting violence outside Al-Arab police station in the coastal city of Port Said, dubbed in media as “Arab Police Station Case”; the court ordered for a retrial.

In August 2015, Port Said Criminal Court handed down sentences of 25 years in prison against 95 Brotherhood leaders (19 in absentia and 76 fugitives), and 10 years in prison against 28 others; in the same trial, a total of 68 other defendants were acquitted of the charges.

The nullification of verdict came a day after another life sentence handed down against Badie in the retrial of "Rabaa operation room" case on Monday. He faced charges of orchestrating a plan to spread chaos and violence across Egypt following the dispersal of the 2013 Rabaa and Nahda sit-ins.