18 defendants sentenced to 15 yrs for storming Atfeeh police station

CAIRO – 7 June 2018: Giza Criminal Court sentenced 18 defendants to 15 years in prison over storming Atfeeh police station in August 2013, following the ousting of Muslim Brotherhood affiliated President Mohamed Morsi.

A number of 10 defendants in the case were also sentenced to five years in prison. The defendants also face charges of damaging public and private property, possessing weapons, rioting and using violence.

Dozens of policemen and hundreds of Morsi supporters were killed during the dispersal of pro-Morsi protests in Al-Nahda and Rabaa Al-Adaweya squares, following the ousting of Morsi on July 3, 2013. The two parties held each other responsible for the violence.

Earlier in April, the Court of Cassation upheld death sentences against six members that allegedly belong to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) group; the defendants were accused of being involved in the case of storming Matay police station in Minya governorate following the dispersal of the protests.

The court sentenced three other defendants to life after annulling previous death sentences issued against them. Also, the court upheld life sentences against 59 other MB elements, and acquitted 47 others in the same case.

Since the ousting of Morsi, Egypt has put a number of people on a proscribed terrorist list over inciting chaos across the country.