Egypt sentences dozens to prison on terror charges

CAIRO – Egypt has sentenced more than 70 suspected members of the Muslim Brotherhood group to prison on terror-related charges.

The Ismailia criminal court on Tuesday sentenced nine of the defendants to 15 years in prison and 43 others to 10 years. Another 22 were sentenced to three to seven years, and 14 were acquitted. Nearly half of the defendants were tried in absentia.

The defendants were accused of burning police vehicles and attacking a coffee shop. The violence came in response to the dispersal of two mass sit-ins in Cairo in 2013, in which security forces killed hundreds of Brotherhood supporters.

The Brotherhood won a series of free elections following Egypt's 2011 uprising but was branded a terrorist group after the military overthrew an elected but divisive Islamist president in 2013.