Ikhwanweb :: The Muslim Brotherhood Official English Website

Giza Criminal Court sentenced to life imprisonment (25 years) the Muslim Brotherhood Chairman Mohamed Badie and Safwat Hegazy, along with six more Brotherhood leaders: Mohamed Beltagy, Essam El-Erian, Bassem Ouda (Minister of Supply in President Morsi's government), Husseini Antar, Essam Ragab and Mohamed Gomaa, in a fabricated lawsuit known in the media as the "Istiqama Mosque incident", referring to military coup forces' violent attack on unarmed protesters in Giza Square (west of Cairo) on July 22, 2013.

The court also sentenced to death, in absentia, six others convicted in the same case: Gamaa Islamiyah leader Assem Abdel-Meguid and Muslim Brotherhood leaders Ezzat Gouda, Anwar Shaltout, Azab Mustafa, Abdul-Razzaq Mahmoud, and Mohamed Ali Talha.

As they came out from court, Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and the other convicted leaders chanted: "Down with military rule… Down with junta injustice". Dr. Badie said the Saturday jail sentence "will not impact our steadfastness".

Commenting on the verdict, Mohamed El-Damati, member of the defense team for the leaders convicted in the case, said: "This is evidently a politicized judgment, just like all the rulings and verdicts against Muslim Brotherhood leaders, who are being tried for their defense of the Revolution of the Egyptian people".

Earlier, Dr. Mohamed Badie was sentenced to death when the Minya Criminal Court (central Egypt), on June 21, issued rulings for the execution of 183 people, including the Muslim Brotherhood Chairman.

Dr. Mohamed Badie, the eighth Muslim Brotherhood Chairman, took charge of the group on January 16, 2010, succeeding Mohamed Mahdi Akef, a professor of pathology at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Beni Suef, south of Cairo. Military coup forces arrested Dr. Badie in August 2012.