Leading opposition figures jailed for 15 years in Egypt

CAIRO

Five opponents of President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi were jailed for 15 years each on Thursday, a lawyer for two prominent convicts said.

Another 65 were sentenced in absentia to life terms.

The defendants -- including al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya leaders Tariq Abdel Moneim and Alaa Saber -- were jailed by a military court for acts of violence said to have been carried out after Sisi’s 2013 coup against President Mohamed Morsi.

“A military court held in Assiut sentenced five regime opponents to 15 years in prison, including the two leaders of al-Jama’a al-Islamiyyah,” lawyer Khalid al-Koumi told Anadolu Agency.

Moneim is a spokesman for the organization while Saber sits on the ruling committee of the Construction and Development Party, al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya’s political wing.

The verdicts are subject to appeal.

Egypt has been wracked by turmoil since the military ousted Morsi, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood group, in July 2013. In a widespread crackdown, the military has killed hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members and jailed tens of thousands.

Reporting by Jamal Abdel Moez; Writing by Ali Abo Rezeg