Egypt sentences four Brotherhood members to death

An Egyptian court has sentenced four members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood organisation to death and 14 to life in prison. 

Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and his deputy Khairat al-Shater were among those sentenced to life on Saturday, along with former lawmaker Mohamed el-Beltagy and party head Saad el-Katatni and his deputy, Essam el-Erian.

Three co-defendants of Badie were also sentenced to death in the same trial. Those convicted were accused of murder, inciting murder, attempted murder, possession of firearms and several more. The verdict can be appealed.

In December 2014 the court sentenced the four men to death and referred the sentences to the grand mufti for consideration. The mufti endorsed the court's December decision.

The case stems from clashes near the Brotherhood's headquarters on June 30, 2013, four days before the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi.The fighting left 11 people dead and 91 wounded.Badie has already been sentenced by three separate courts to three life terms, and he was also handed two death sentences that were later overturned on appeal.

Morsi himself is facing several trials on charges that are punishable by death, while his group have been designated a "terrorist group". Some 22,000 people have been arrested since Morsi's ouster, including most of the Brotherhood's leaders, as well as non-Islamist activists swept up by police during protests.