CAIRO, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Courts in Cairo Thursday handed down three-year jail terms to 87 people who protested in support of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.
Judicial sources told the Middle East News Agency one misdemeanor court issued the three-year sentences to 63 people and also fined them 50,000 Egyptian pounds ($7,181) for participation in unauthorized and violent protests in November. Another court sentenced 24 people for their roles in a "terrorist gang" that attacked police officers during a protest.
The government, installed by the Egyptian military after Morsi's ouster, passed a law in December banning protests not sanctioned by police, in a crackdown on Islamists that has left more than 1,000 dead in street clashes.
In December the government classified Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization," a designation that carries harsher penalties for offenders, including possible death sentences for convicted leaders of the movement, the Middle East News Agency said.
