Egypt refers 379 Muslim Brotherhood members to crimil court

Cairo, April 8: Egypt’s prosecutor general on Wednesday referred 379 members of the Muslim Brotherhood group to the crimil court over charges of premeditated murder and sabotage, Egypt’s state-run ME news agency reported. Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat also referred police officers to the crimil court for torturing to death Karim Hamdy, a lawyer, at a police station. The defendants were accused of violence, premeditated murder, possessing weapons, attacking public institutions during the hda Square sit-in in Giza on August 14, 2013, following the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, according to the Xinhua news agency. Since the military ousted Morsi, the new leadership in Egypt has been undertaking a massive crackdown on Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters and has blacklisted the group as “a terrorist organisation”. Thousands of the group’s leaders and members have been detained and hundreds are still facing trial, while others were handed death or life sentences over charges of killing and violence. Morsi himself is on trial over various charges including jailbreak, espioge, ordering the killing of protesters, insulting the judiciary and leaking classified documents to Qatar.  (IANS)