BBC Online :
An Egyptian court has confirmed death sentences for 183 Muslim Brotherhood supporters accused of a 2013 attack on a police station, lawyers say.
A judge had recommended the death penalty for the 683 defendants, in a widely-criticised mass trial in April.
Mohammed Badie, leader of the banned group, was among those whose sentences were upheld. Appeals are now likely.
The military-installed government has sentenced at least 1,000 of its opponents since December.
Authorities have cracked down harshly on Islamists since former President Mohammed Morsi, who belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, was removed by the military in July 2013 following mass protests.
Saturday’s verdict was delivered by a court in the town of Minya, south of Cairo.
Four of the defendants were given sentences of 15-25 years in jail and the rest were acquitted.
The defendants were accused of involvement in the murder and attempted murder of policemen in Minya province on 14 August 2013, the day police killed hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters in clashes in Cairo.
This is the largest mass death sentence to be passed in Egypt in recent times. The verdicts and the speed at which the trial was handled have drawn widespread criticism from human rights groups.
The judge, Sa’ed Yusef Sabri, has a draconian reputation, and is known as al-Jazzar, the Butcher. The activist and former chairman of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights, Hesham Qasim, told the BBC it was time for the authorities to take measures against the judge for these unprecedented sentences.
