A court in Egypt’s second-largest city sentenced two supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi to death on Saturday for throwing two people off the roof of a building during violent protests after the Islamist president was ousted, according to Egypt’s state news agency.
The agency said the court in Alexandria found the men guilty of murdering a child and a young man in the coastal city during mass protests that demanded Morsi’s reinstatement after he was removed from power by the military. The roof incident happened on 5 July of last year, two days after Morsi’s ouster. It was one of the most dramatic acts of violence on a day in which 16 other people were killed in Alexandria.
Judge Sayed Abdel-Latif said he would issue the verdict against another 60 defendants charged with violence that day in another two months. It was not clear why the ruling was split into two. One of those killed was nine-year-old Hamada Badr, whose witnesses including a journalist said was stabbed and then thrown off the roof. Another man in his twenties was hurled to his death and Morsi supporters were seen beating his lifeless body.
The father of the nine-year old said the verdict was partial vindication. ‘But I want all the Brotherhood leadership tried and sentenced to death,’ said Badr Hassouna. Video footage of the incidents was repeatedly aired on national TV. It also showed one of the defendants roaming the roof raising a black flag often used by militants. Another 12 people were killed elsewhere in Egypt that day in clashes sparked when tens of thousands of enraged Morsi supporters took to the street after a Muslim Brotherhood leader called on ‘defending’ the ousted Islamist president who was then in military custody.
The violence also set the tone for months to come. Authorities have since intensified a crackdown on Morsi supporters and dispersed protests in which over 1,000 were killed and thousands others were detained. Last week, a court sentenced 529 Islamists to death for killing a policeman in the province of Minya, south of Cairo.
The agency said the court in Alexandria found the men guilty of murdering a child and a young man in the coastal city during mass protests that demanded Morsi’s reinstatement after he was removed from power by the military. The roof incident happened on 5 July of last year, two days after Morsi’s ouster. It was one of the most dramatic acts of violence on a day in which 16 other people were killed in Alexandria.
Judge Sayed Abdel-Latif said he would issue the verdict against another 60 defendants charged with violence that day in another two months. It was not clear why the ruling was split into two. One of those killed was nine-year-old Hamada Badr, whose witnesses including a journalist said was stabbed and then thrown off the roof. Another man in his twenties was hurled to his death and Morsi supporters were seen beating his lifeless body.
The father of the nine-year old said the verdict was partial vindication. ‘But I want all the Brotherhood leadership tried and sentenced to death,’ said Badr Hassouna. Video footage of the incidents was repeatedly aired on national TV. It also showed one of the defendants roaming the roof raising a black flag often used by militants. Another 12 people were killed elsewhere in Egypt that day in clashes sparked when tens of thousands of enraged Morsi supporters took to the street after a Muslim Brotherhood leader called on ‘defending’ the ousted Islamist president who was then in military custody.
The violence also set the tone for months to come. Authorities have since intensified a crackdown on Morsi supporters and dispersed protests in which over 1,000 were killed and thousands others were detained. Last week, a court sentenced 529 Islamists to death for killing a policeman in the province of Minya, south of Cairo.