Egypt court upholds 20 death sentences in 2013 massacre

Sept. 24 (UPI) -- A Cairo court on Monday upheld the death sentences of 20 inmates convicted of killing 17 people, most of whom were police officers, five years ago.

Egypt's Court of Cassation, the country's top court, gave the final verdict to 20 members of the Muslim Brotherhood in their 2013 overthrow the administration of President Mohamed Morsi.

The attack in the district of Kerdasa killed 14 police officers. Morsi was overthrown a month earlier in a security crackdown that killed hundreds.

The court also upheld life imprisonment sentences for 80 defendants.

A court sentenced 188 defendants to death in February 2015 for the massacre, and the Court of Cassation ordered retrials for 156 of them a year later.

The court issued death sentences for 20 of them in April 2017, which later got the approval of the Grand Mufti, the interpreter of religious law.

Morsi was democratically elected president in 2012, then overthrown the following year by a military coup. His party, the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood, was outlawed and thousands of supporters were arrested.