Egypt court overturns death sentence of MB chief, 135 others

An Egyptian court today ordered a retrial after overturning 136 death sentences awarded in 2013 to Muslim Brotherhood members, including its supreme commander Mohamed Badie, in an internationally criticised mass trial.
The Court of Cassation accepted the appeals of 36 Islamists and supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi, including Badie, the supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The defendants were awarded death sentences in 2013 for attacking a police station in the Upper Egyptian city of Minya and killing a police officer and eight other persons following the dispersal of pro-Morsi sit-ins.
The mass death sentences were criticised by international and local rights groups.

Only 36 of 136 defendants appealed the sentences but according to Egyptian law, a verdict is reversed if one defendant in a case wins an appeal, defence lawyer Mohamed Toson told Ahram Online.
Since Morsi's ouster in 2013, the Egyptian government has been cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters.
Morsi is currently in prison on charges of killing protesters, espionage, insulting the judiciary and escaping from prison during the protests in 2011 but has not been sentenced in any case so far.
He has recently been charged with spying and handing documents of national security importance to Qatari intelligence through the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera news channel.