Mohamed Morsi supporters sentenced to life in prison over Suez unrest

Eleven supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi have been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of attacking the Egyptian army.

The men were accused of wounding soldiers, sabotaging armored vehicles and burning churches during riots in the port city of Suez last month.

Forty-five others received five-year sentences, while five were acquitted.

The riots followed a deadly crackdown by security forces on two pro-Morsi protest camps in the capital, Cairo.

Hundreds of people, mostly members of Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, were killed when the sit-ins outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque and at Nahda Square were cleared on August 14.

The unrest in Suez, 87 miles to the east of Cairo, on August 14 and 16 left more than 30 dead.

It is not clear if those convicted on Tuesday are Brotherhood members. But if they are, the verdicts would be the first affecting the Islamist group since the military launched a campaign against it after ousting Mohamed Morsi.

State prosecutors announced on 1 September that after almost two months in detention at a secret location, Mohamed Morsi would stand trial for inciting murder and violence.

The charges relates to the deaths of at least seven people during clashes between opposition protesters and Brotherhood supporters outside the Ittihadiya presidential palace in Cairo in December 2012.

Fourteen other senior Muslim Brotherhood figures, including Mohammed al-Beltagi and Essam al-Erian, will be tried on the same charge.

Also on Tuesday, a court in Cairo ordered the closure of four television stations, including the Brotherhood’s Ahrar 25 TV and al-Jazeera’s Egyptian affiliate Mubasher Misr, saying they were operating illegally.

The stations were seen by the authorities as being sympathetic to the Brotherhood.

The group called for protests demanding the reinstatement of Mohamed Morsi in the capital on Tuesday under the slogan: “The coup is terrorism.”

The state news agency, Mena, said security forces had sealed off some roads in the capital. Military vehicles were reported to be blocking the entrances to the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque and Tahrir Square, the centre of the anti-government protests which triggered the Egyptian revolution in 2011.

The resumption of national rail services after 17 days was also delayed.