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In the first case, 16 Muslim Brotherhood members were convicted for their involvement in the bombing of a police bus in 2015
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In the other case, eight were convicted of killing a police officer in December 2014
The Damanhour Criminal Court in the Beheira governorate of Egypt has sentenced 24 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death in two different cases, said local reports on Friday, July 30.
The verdicts, in two different cases involving the killing of policemen, came on Thursday, said the local reports, adding that eight of the 24 were tried in absentia.
In the first case, 16 Muslim Brotherhood members, including regional leader Mohamed Sweidan, were convicted for their involvement in the bombing of a police bus in the Rashid city in Beheira in 2015.
The blast killed three police officers and injured 39 others, said the reports.
The court handed down the death penalty to another eight Muslim Brotherhood members accused of killing a police officer in December 2014 in the Ad Dilinjat city in Beheira.
Three other defendants in the case had already died, so the case against them was dropped, said the reports.
The local reports did not elaborate on whether the verdicts are final or could be appealed.
However, the non-profit Shehab Organization for Human Rights said the verdicts are final as they were issued by an emergency court.
Capital punishment for civilian convicts in Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, is carried out by hanging.
The Muslim Brotherhood — officially the Society of the Muslim Brothers — is currently proscribed in Egypt and several Middle-Eastern countries, which consider it a terrorist organization.
The entity itself claims to be peaceful and democratic, having gained legitimacy for a bit in 2011 and contesting elections to some success.