Court imprisons 74 'Brotherhood' members for hostile acts

CAIRO - 4 April 2019: A criminal court in Ismailia handed on Tuesday imprisonment sentences ranging from 5 to 10 years to 74 defendants who allegedly belong to the Muslim Brotherhood, over a number of charges, including preventing state institutions from performing their duties.

The court acquitted 14 defendants in the case, and abated the charges of one defendant.

According to legal documents, the defendants face the charges of joining an illegal group calling for suspending the constitution, and preventing state institutions from carrying out their duties. The group, according to the documents, also violated personal and public freedom, and harmed social peace and national unity.

The investigations of the general prosecution said that the defendants joined some destructive movements that resorted to violence, adding that they participated in setting fire to a number of cars belonging to the police and the judiciary between August, 2013 and January 1, 2016. They also possessed weapons, explosives, Molotov cocktails, incendiary materials and cameras, according to the investigations.

August 2013 marks the dispersal of pro-Muslim Brotherhood mass protests in Rabaa al-Adaweya square, which followed the ousting of MB-affiliated former President Mohamed Morsi.