Cairo:
An Egyptian court ordered a retrial for 37 Muslim Brotherhood members sentenced to death and 115 others sentenced to life in a mass trial last year, judicial sources said on Saturday.
The 152 were initially sentenced last March at a trial of more than 500 defendants, some tried in absentia. The proceedings lasted only a few days and were widely criticised by Western governments and human rights groups.
They will face a retrial for carrying out attacks during clashes that erupted in the southern province of Minya after the forced dispersal of two Muslim Brotherhood protest camps in Cairo on August 14, 2013, when hundreds were killed.
The Brotherhood was protesting at the removal of President Mohamed Mursi after he was ousted by the military following mass protests against his rule.
The original trial last year in Minya also saw 377 sentenced in absentia. Those sentenced in absentia automatically receive retrials when they turn themselves in, according to Egyptian law.
The 152 were initially sentenced last March at a trial of more than 500 defendants, some tried in absentia. The proceedings lasted only a few days and were widely criticised by Western governments and human rights groups.
They will face a retrial for carrying out attacks during clashes that erupted in the southern province of Minya after the forced dispersal of two Muslim Brotherhood protest camps in Cairo on August 14, 2013, when hundreds were killed.
The Brotherhood was protesting at the removal of President Mohamed Mursi after he was ousted by the military following mass protests against his rule.
The original trial last year in Minya also saw 377 sentenced in absentia. Those sentenced in absentia automatically receive retrials when they turn themselves in, according to Egyptian law.
© Thomson Reuters 2015
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