Egyptian court jails 82 people for post-coup ‘violence’

CAIRO

An Egyptian court on Thursday upheld prison terms ranging from three to 25 years each for 82 people convicted earlier for alleged “acts of violence”.

A judicial source told local media outlets that the Court of Cassation, Egypt’s highest appellate court, had upheld prison terms handed down earlier against 10 people sentenced to life behind bars, 60 others to 15 years each, and another 12 to three years each.

The case dates back to August 2013, when Egyptian security forces violently dispersed a sit-in protest in Cairo’s Al-Nahda Square.

The sit-in was held in support of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president and a Muslim Brotherhood leader, who had been ousted in a military coup only weeks earlier.

The sentences are final and cannot be challenged before any other court, the same judicial source said.

Local and international rights groups frequently accuse the Egyptian authorities of trying political opponents on trumped-up criminal charges.

The authorities, for their part, deny the allegations, claiming that all defendants enjoy fair trials and due legal process.

Egypt has been roiled by violence since mid-2013, when the army ousted and imprisoned Morsi after only one year in power.