TEMPO.CO, Cairo - Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood top leader Mohammad Badie, 71, was sentenced to life in prison by an Egyptian court on charges of murder and inciting violence during clashes in Cairo last year.
As reported by Al Arabiya Monday, western countries and international human rights groups demanded death sentence for Badie since he, along with toher 182 Brotherhood members, were involved in violence in Minya that killed a policeman.
In what is known as the Bahr al-Azam case on July 15, 2013, Badie and the other defendants were convicted of the murder of five people and the attempted murder of 100 others during violence that broke out in Giza.
Egypt’s authorities have arrested hundreds of members of the oldest Islamic movement in Egypt. The group has also been banned from operating in Egypt and has been labelled as terrorist organization.
Egypt has long desired to get rid of the Muslim Brotherhood. Then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Mohamed Morsi, member of the Brotherhood, from presidency on July 3, 2013. Sisi then went on to win presidential election. In his campaign, he vowed that the Brotherhood would cease to exist under him.
AL ARABIYA | VIQIANSAH DENNIS
