Egyptian court sentences 10 Muslim brotherhood members to death for planning attacks

Cairo (Reuters) – An Egyptian court has sentenced to death 10 members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group for planning attacks on the police, the state-news agency MENA said on Sunday.

Egypt’s top religious authority, the Grand Mufti, has to ratify the sentences, it said.

The identities of the defendants were not disclosed and it was not possible to determine how they had pleaded to the charges.

Egypt has mounted one of the biggest crackdowns in its modern history on the Brotherhood following the army’s overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, the country’s first freely-elected president, in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

The government considers the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation.

The 10 who were sentenced to death had formed a group called “Helwan Brigades”, MENA said, in reference to a city south of Cairo. They were part of a broader plot to attack police targets in the Cairo area with the aim to topple the regime, it added.