CAIRO: An Egyptian court on Monday upheld death sentences for 12 Muslim Brotherhood members, concluding a trial linked to a 2013 mass killing by security forces at an Islamist sit-in, a judicial official said.

The ruling, which condemns two senior Brotherhood leaders, effectively ends a case which started with over 600 defendants in the aftermath of the military’s 2013 overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Following Morsi’s ouster that July amid mass protests against his rule, his Muslim Brotherhood supporters staged a massive sit-in at Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square in eastern Cairo to demand his return. The following month, security forces raided the square and killed some 800 people in a single day.

Authorities said at the time that protesters were armed and the forced dispersal was a vital counter-terrorism measure. It marked the start of a long crackdown against both Islamists and the secular opposition in Egypt.

Those condemned to death on Monday were convicted of “arming criminal gangs which attacked residents and resisted policemen as well as possessing firearms ... ammunition... and bomb-making material”.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2021