19 May 2014

Prison for Muslim Brotherhood supporters

5:55 am on 19 May 2014

A court in Egypt has sentenced 126 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood to 10 years in prison each, in the latest mass trial against the organisation.

State television said they were found guilty of rioting and inciting violence in the Nile Delta province, after the ousting of president Mohamed Morsi last year.

The riots took place on 16 August, two days after state security forces shot and killed hundreds of Morsi supporters in Cairo.

The interim government has rounded up thousands of Muslin Brotherhood supporters since Mr Morsi's overthrow in July last year, shortly after the first anniversary of his election. Hundreds have been sentenced to death.

Founded in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood is now a banned organisation. It was previously banned from 1954 onwards.