The Sohag Criminal Court on Thursday sentenced in absentia and in person two members of the Brotherhood to life imprisonment, 12 others to 10 years, nine defendants to five years and acquitted seven defendants in the case of storming and burning down the Atamna Police Station in Sohag.
The case pertains to 30 leaders and members of the Brotherhood and Morsy supporters, including 22 fugitives or released.
The session was held amid tight security as the streets leading to it were closed in both directions, cars and motorcycles were banned from parking and citizens had to show their ID cards and pass through electronic gates for inspection.
The defendants were charged with staging violent protests on 3 July and 26 October 2013, intimidating citizens and deliberately vandalising and destroying property, using firearms and knives. They were also charged with assaulting police officer Abdel Hamid Tawfiq and his colleagues, pushing them to leave police station by force.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
