July 16, 2019

On Sunday Minya Criminal Court issued harsh sentences against 12 people accused of inciting murder following riots that broke out after the Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in in Cairo on August 14 2013.

Khaled al-Ela, a member of their defence team, said that the Minya Criminal Court sentenced nine people to life imprisonment, one to 15 years imprisonment, and two of the accused to three years.

The verdict came against the background of the retrial proceedings in the case known as the “Matay police station intrusions” in Minya governorate, following the disbanding of the Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in in Cairo.

Prosecutors have charged them with “committing acts of violence, instigating [acts of violence,] killing and vandalising public facilities,” which defendants and the defence counsel denied during the trial.

According to local reports, riots and violence broke out in a number of Egyptian governorates after the army and police forces forcibly broke up two sit-ins in support of the late President Mohamed Morsi on August 14, 2013, in Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda square.

The operation resulted in the deaths of 632 people, including eight policemen, according to the National Council for Human Rights in Egypt, while local and international human rights organisations said the number of dead exceeded 1,000.