Egypt upholds life sentences for 10 Muslim Brotherhood figures | Al Jazeera

Egypt’s highest appeals court has upheld the life sentences of 10 leaders of Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, including the group’s head, the state-owned MENA news agency reported.

The ruling on Sunday upheld the 2019 conviction by a Cairo criminal court of all 10, including the group’s leader, or supreme guide, Mohamed Badie, of charges related to killing policemen and organising mass jail-breaks during Egypt’s 2011 uprising. That revolt culminated in the overthrow of longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak.

The defendants were found guilty of helping about 20,000 prisoners escape, and of undermining national security by conspiring with foreign armed groups – the Palestinian group, Hamas, and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, the Court of Cassation acquitted eight middle-rank leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, who were sentenced earlier to 15 years in prison.

All of the sentences, which the court considered on appeal, are final.