Egypt seeks Mufti's ruling on 75 possible death sentences

Reuters - An Egyptian court said on Saturday (July 28) it would transfer the cases of 75 people accused of security-related offenses, including senior Muslim Brotherhood figures, to Egypt's top religious authority to decide whether they should be sentenced to death. They are among more than 700 others accused of illegal protest and murder over a 2013 sit-in which ended in the deaths of hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters and dozens of police when security forces broke it up violently. The accused face a range of sentences including execution and life in prison. Egyptian law requires any capital sentence to be referred to Grand Mufti Shawqi Allam, Egypt's highest Islamic legal official, for an opinion before any execution can take place. The 2013 sit-in at Rabaa Adawiya square in Cairo took place after the military, led by current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in a popularly-backed coup. Amnesty International says the dispersal of the sit-in in August that year killed more than 800 protesters. Egypt's government said many protesters were armed, and that 43 police were killed. The final sentencing in the case is expected on Sept. 8 after the Mufti has given his ruling, judicial sources said.