An Egyptian court sentenced a leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and an Islamist cleric to 20 years in prison yesterday for attempting to kill two policemen, part of a government crackdown that has severely weakened the group.
Mohamed El-Beltagy and cleric Safwat Hegazy were convicted of detaining and attempting to kill the policemen during protests against the military’s overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on July 3, 2013.
The demonstrations at Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya were crushed by security forces, who killed hundreds of people.
Egyptian officials, who call the Brotherhood a terrorist group, have repeatedly said that some protesters were armed and fired at police and soldiers.
Two doctors who treated wounded protesters at a field hospital during the clashes, Mohammed Zenati and Azim Mohammed, were sentenced to 15 years each on the same charges. Like many Brotherhood leaders, Beltagy faces several legal cases.
