EGYPT: MUFTI CONFIRMS DEATH PENALTY FOR 10

July 5, 2014: Thirty-seven out of 48 defendants accused of inciting violence and blocking the Qalyoub Highway last year were given life sentences.
Another 10 defendants, sentenced to death in absentia in June, had their verdicts approved by the country's grand mufti, who according to Egyptian law must review all capital punishment verdicts.
One defendant was given three years in jail.
Among those sentenced to life are Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, and leading Brotherhood members Mohamed El-Beltagy and Osama Yassin.
The prosecution also accused the defendants of being members in a terrorist group, vandalising public and private properties, illegal possession of arms, and disrupting the general peace.
The case centred on clashes that took place where two were killed and 13 injured after Qalyoub Highway was blocked in the wake of the ouster of Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. (Sources: english.ahram.org.eg, 05/07/2014)