Egypt Sentences Muslim Brotherhood Leader to Life in Prison and Eight Others to Death

Egypt has sentenced the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood to life in prison on Monday, in addition to handing down lengthy prison or death sentences for 35 others, reported state-run news agency Al-Ahram and other news outlets.

Mohammed Badie, the spiritual leader of the banned Islamist party, was found guilty for his involvement in the violent clashes in the governorate of Ismailia in July of 2013 that took place in response to the ouster of former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who was also a senior member of the Brotherhood. The men were found guilty of killing three people in Ismailia clashes and attempting to kill an additional 16 more, according to Al-Ahram.

Amnesty International reported that the court also sentenced eight men to death for planning attacks on military and police personnel. The death sentences relied on confessions obtained under torture, the human rights group said, "using electric shocks, whipping, burning and suspension by the wrists which were handcuffed behind their backs."

"Lawyers and family members told Amnesty International that the defendants bore torture marks all over their bodies including bruises and burns, as well as injuries to the hands as a result of torture," an Amnesty statement said. "According to lawyers who were present at the trial, all the defendants told the court about the torture and other forms of ill-treatment and requested that the court formally refer them to a forensic authority to authenticate their claims. This request was ignored."

Amnesty condemned the verdicts as an "affront to justice" and urged the court to reverse them immediately.

"Sentencing to death men who were tortured into 'confessions' is an egregious injustice, even by the degraded standards of Egypt's justice system," said Magdalena Mughrabi-Talhami, the group's deputy director for the region. "They must receive a fair trial before an ordinary civilian court that meets international standards and excludes torture-tainted evidence, without the recourse to the death penalty."

Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, won a democratic election for president following the revolution and previous President Hosni Mubarak's resignation but was ultimately ousted in a military coup and replaced by current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Egypt's court system has drawn international criticism for its harsh sentences for Muslim Brotherhood members in recent years. Badie was arrested in August of 2013, along with about 100 other Muslim Brotherhood members, in a sweeping crackdown against the banned group throughout the country.

This is Badie's seventh life sentence he has received since his arrest nearly three years ago.

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