Egyptian Court Upholds Muslim Brotherhood Executions

Egypt’s highest civilian court issued a final decision in a landmark Muslim Brotherhood case, upholding the 2018 death sentences of 12 of the movement’s members convicted of killing policemen, destroying public property and possessing illegal weapons during the 2013 mass protests in Cairo. The justices reduced the sentences of 31 other defendants. Human rights organizations and foreign governments have condemned Egypt for its crackdown against protests and its treatment of detainees, following the July 2013 coup that ousted former President Mohammed Morsi and elevated President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi to the throne. After Morsi’s removal, police stormed tens of thousands of his Muslim Brotherhood supporters protesting in the capital, killing some 800 civilians in a single day. El-Sisi later outlawed the Islamist movement, which was founded in Egypt in 1928. In April, nine of its members were executed for killing 13 officers during the 2013 troubles.