An Egyptian court has sentenced the Muslim Brotherhood Acting General Guide, Mahmoud Ezzat, to life imprisonment (25 years). This sentence came in the case known in the media as the events of the Guidance Bureau.

The case’s facts date back to June 30, 2013, when clashes took place in front of the Guidance Office in the suburb of Mokattam, southeast of Cairo, between supporters and opponents of the MB, killing nine people and wounding 91 others. The verdict was issued by the Second Circuit, Terrorism South Cairo. It is a preliminary ruling that may be appealed before the Court of Cassation within 60 days of the issuance of the judge’s reasons.

In 2015, the Cairo Criminal Court sentenced four defendants to death and life imprisonment against 14 others in the same case, most notably the group’s general guide, Muhammad Badie, and his deputy, Khairat Al-Shater. Last August, Egyptian security forces arrested Mahmoud Ezzat, the group’s acting general guide. The Egyptian Ministry of Interior stated that he was arrested in one of the Fifth Settlement apartments, east of Cairo.

Mahmoud Ezzat took over the management of the group according to its established traditions after the arrest of its general guide, Muhammad Badie, in August of 2013 in a residential apartment in the Rab’a Al-Adawiya area east of Cairo. Last December, Mahmoud Ezzat appeared in a dilapidated health condition during his first court session. He was tried in Tora Prison.

The Egyptian authorities included Mahmoud Ezzat’s name in many cases in which he is being tried as a defendant, the most prominent of which is the case of the Guidance Office’s events, in which a judgment was issued against him today.