An Egyptian court today cancelled the death sentences and ordered the retrial of Muslim Brotherhood top leader Mohamed Badie and 11 others convicted for planning attacks against the state by inciting chaos and violence in 2013.
Badie, 71, the supreme guide of the banned group, and 11 other Brotherhood members were convicted of setting up an "operation room" to direct their supporters as part of plans to defy the state and spread violence and chaos, following the dispersal of Rabaa and Nahda sit-ins in August 2013 by police after the ouster of first Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.
The 26 other defendants who were given life in prison sentence will also stand retrial as Egypt's Court of Cassation withdrew its earlier order. They had appealed against the verdict which was accepted by the court.
Badie was sentenced in March. The court in April confirmed the sentences after they werereviewed by Egypt's Grand Mufti.
According to the Egyptian law, the Grand Mufti must review all death sentences although his decision is not binding.
Badie, the top leader of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, was arrested in August 2013. He, Sultan and50 other leaders were referred to the criminal court in February 2014.
