Egypt acquits 141 Mursi supporters
01:17AM Fri 17 Oct, 2014
Cairo: An Egyptian court Thursday cleared 141 backers of the deposed president Mohammad Mursi of violence charges in a rare verdict involving Muslim Brotherhood, according to judicial sources.
The Criminal Court in the southern city of Assiut convicted 26 other defendants in the same case of involvement in attacking several state institutions in Assiut’s town of Al Ghanyam in a wave of protests that erupted after security forces mounted a deadly crackdown on two pro-Mursi camps in Cairo in August of 2013.
Some 102 of the defendants were in custody, according to the sources. The others are still on the run. The rulings can be appealed.
Security forces had cordoned off the court house since the early hours of Thursday, witnesses said. Following the ruling announcement, police tightened security at public institutions in Assiut for fear of violent protests by relatives of the convicted accused, the witnesses added.
Hundreds of Mursi’s supporters and followers of his Muslim Brotherhood group have been detained and put on trial since his ouster by the army in mid-2013. Dozens of the organization's leading members, including the group’s head Mohammad Badie, have recently been sentenced to death over involvement in deadly violence.
Gulf News
Photos
