The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood has been sentenced to life in prison by an Egyptian Court:
The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Mohamed Badie, was sentenced on Saturday to life in prison for inciting violence in street protests last year, an Egyptian television channel reported.
Egypt’s ONTV reported that the presiding judge, Hassan Farid, said the 70-year-old incited violence “to achieve terrorist goals” after the army removed the Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi from the presidency in July 2013.
Another 36 Brotherhood members were given the same sentence at the Cairo trial, while 10 others were sentenced to death. Many of the co-defendants were tried in absentia.
Badie, who has already received death sentences in two separate cases, was one of thousands of Brotherhood figures and supporters arrested after Morsi’s removal.
The Brotherhood has since been listed as a “terrorist movement,” with much of its leadership imprisoned, including the former president.
Its supporters have held protests, often resulting in clashes, against the government that replaced Morsi.
This case was separate from the charges against former President Mohammed Morsi, which has yet to go to trial, but the sentence imposed seems to be a strong indication of what the outcome of that case is going to be. In many ways, of course, this is really just a return to previous policy as far as how the Egyptian government has treated opposition groups in general, and the Muslim Brotherhood specifically. The Brotherhood has essentially been illegal since its founding except for the brief period after Hosni Mubarak was deposed and yet it has managed to survive. One doubts that this sentence will be any more successful in wiping the movement out than previous efforts have been.
