Egypt sentences 183 Muslim brotherhood supporters to death

An Egyptian court has sentenced 183 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in the country to death following involvement in the killing of police officers.

According to Reuters,the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood supporters were sentenced to death on Monday as regards charges of killing police officers, as authorities continued their crackdown on Islamists.

The conviction was as a result of the death of 16 policemen, killed in Kardasa,an Egyptian town in August 2013, during the upheaval that followed the army’s ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi.

A hundred and forty nine of the sentenced were present in court at the time of the sentencing, while 34 were sentenced in absentia.

Egypt has mounted one of the biggest crackdowns in its modern history on the Brotherhood since the political demise of Mursi, the country’s first democratically-elected president.

Thousands of Brotherhood supporters have been arrested and put on mass trials in a campaign, which human rights groups say shows the government is systematically repressing opponents.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who as army chief toppled Mursi, describes the Brotherhood as a major security threat.

The movement which was founded by Hassan al-Banna, in March 1928 says it is committed to peaceful activism.

The brotherhood is a Sunni Islamist religious, political, and social movement, considered the largest, best-organized political force in Egypt, estimated by different sources to have over 2 million supporters.