The Criminal Court of Zagazig handed out prison terms ranging between three years with hard labour and life imprisonment to 33 individuals charged with supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.
It also acquitted 26 other persons in a different case, and adjourned the trial of 82 others in another case to next Monday to listen to defence.
The defendants in the three cases are charged with violence and violating the protest law, as well as inciting and funding riot, vandalising public facilities, and possession of weapons.
Following the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood regime and the banning of the group in 2013, Egyptian authorities launched a crackdown on the group’s senior leaders, members, supporters and suspect members.
Hundreds have been imprisoned over terrorism charges, including the ousted president Mohamed Morsi, and the Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie.
The protest law was issued by Hazem El-Beblawi’s cabinet in November 2013 to “regulate” protests, and stipulated that prior permission must be obtained from the Ministry of Interior to hold a protest.
Judge Nagi Shehata has handed mass death sentences to hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members in the past two years. He heads one of six special judiciary circuits dedicated to terrorism and violent crimes.
In December, the Giza Criminal Court sentenced three “Brotherhood supporters” to death on violence charges in the case widely known in the media as the “Imbaba events” trial.
