Badie, 4 MB leaders sentenced to life imprisonment in ‘al-Bahr al-Azam’ case

CAIRO - 12 August 2018: A Cairo Criminal Court sentenced former Muslim Brotherhood (MB) group supreme guide, Mohamed Badie, and four other Muslim Brotherhood members in the case known as “al-Bahr al-Azam” to life imprisonment (25 years in jail) on Sunday.


In September 2014, the defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment over charges of “inciting clashes” in al-Bahr al-Azam district, Giza, causing the death of five people. However, the Court of Cassation overturned the verdicts on Nov. 8, 2015, and ordered a retrial.

The four other convicts are Mohamed Beltagy, Safwat Hegazy, Essam El-Erian, and Hussein Antar. The court also handed down sentence of 10 years in prison against 10 other co-defendants belonging to the outlawed Muslim brotherhood group.


Video: Presiding Judge Hussein Qandil hands down the ruling




Badie was sentenced to life in prison in many other cases, including espionage for Hamas, as well as the guidance bureau and Istiqama mosque incidents; however, retrials were ordered in the cases.

Badie was found guilty in the trial of “cutting-off Qalyoubia Road”, in which 36 defendants were also convicted in October 2016. He is still being tried in 11 known cases, mainly over charges of “inciting violence”. However, he stated in a hearing over charges of inciting violence in Minya that he is facing 48 trials, Masrawy reported on Feb. 28.


He was arrested on Aug. 19, 2013, as part of a nation-wide crackdown on Brotherhood leaders in the wake of increasing violence and protests after two Brotherhood sit-ins were dispersed in 2013. The incidents caused the deaths of hundreds of policemen and supporters of the MB-affiliated former president Mohamed Morsi.


Badie, 74, was the eighth leader of the Muslim Brotherhood organization. He became leader of the organization in 2010 after his predecessor Mahdi Akef, who died in 2017.


On April 14, 2018, Egypt the Court of Cassation upheld a life imprisonment sentence (25 years) against Badie, over charges of inciting violence in the “Rabaa operation room case”.


On April 30, the Cairo Criminal Court has reordered placing the Muslim Brotherhood organization and 1,529 defendants, including Badie, and Morsi on the terror list.