Egyptian court sentences 10 members of Muslim Brotherhood to death for planning terrorist attacks against police

Egypt's Supreme State Security Prosecution sentenced to death 10 members of the Muslim Brotherhood (a terrorist group banned in Russia) for forming an armed group to attack law enforcement officers and destroy infrastructure, Egypt's Middle East News Agency reported on Sunday.

The defendants were accused of creating a special group to attack police officers and destroy power lines and transformers in the country, the media said. The sentenced prisoners were reportedly involved in a case known in the media as "Helwan Brigades."

The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928 and designated as a terrorist group in 2013 after massive clashes with police, is an international Islamist organization that has branches in about 70 countries and seeks the islamization of society.

In June 2015, then-Egyptian Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat referred cases of Muslim Brotherhood members to criminal proceedings, for which he was soon killed in a car bomb explosion organized by representatives of the movement.

During the investigation, the General Prosecutor's Office found that leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood had developed a plan to overthrow the acting government in Egypt while in prison. Followers of the movement who remained at large organized three councils in different parts of the country to form armed brigades, which were later nicknamed "Helwan Brigades."

To date, most of the Muslim Brotherhood's leaders are in prison, but, at the same time, a number of its top members have managed to escape from the country. (ANI/Sputnik)

( With inputs from ANI )