Death sentence for 10 Muslim Brotherhood defendants

Egyptian courts have sentenced ten leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood to death on Saturday, while postponing the trial of the organisation’s spiritual leader Mohamed Badie.

The ten are part of a group of 48 defendants, including Mohamed Badie, who are standing trial on charges of inciting violence in the Qalioubiya province last year.

The defendants face charges of blocking roads, inciting violence and attacking security forces on July 22 – some three weeks after the ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi by the military.

After the army ousted Islamist Mohamed Morsi last July, Badie was one of thousands of the deposed president's supporters arrested in a crackdown that also left more than 1,400 dead.

He is being tried in nearly 40 cases, all of which potentially carry the death penalty, and has already been sentenced to die in one case.

In Saturday's case, Badie is accused of inciting violence in which two people were killed in the Nile Delta city of Qaliub, only days after the military ousted Morsi on July 3.

In April, a court in the city of Minya sentenced him and nearly 700 alleged Morsi supporters to hang over the murder and attempted murder of policemen. A final ruling in those sentences is expected on June 21.

Among other Brotherhood leaders charged in the same case are senior Brotherhood leader Mohamed al-Beltagi, former youth minister Osama Yassin, and former supply minister Bassem Ouda.

Thousands of Brotherhood members have been arrested on charges of incitement-to-violence and joining a "terrorist" group.

The defendants, however, deny the accusations, which they describe as "politically motivated".