Egypt sentences 20 to death for 'violence'

CAIRO

An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced 20 people to death in a retrial in connection with violence that took place in 2013, according to a local judicial source.

The 20 were among a group of 155 people accused of attacking a police station in Kerdasa village near Cairo following the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi in a military coup.

The court also jailed 80 people for life, 34 for 15 years and one for 10 years in the same case and acquitted 20 other defendants.

The court slapped the defendants with a total fine of $62,000 and placed them under surveillance for five years after serving their sentences.

Sunday's verdicts are still subject to appeal.

In 2015, a court sentenced more than 150 people to death in connection with the violence, but the verdicts were later overturned by Egypt's highest appellate court and ordered a retrial.

Egypt was roiled by violence and unrest after the military deposed Morsi, the country's first freely elected president, in a 2013 coup.

Since Morsi's overthrow, Egyptian authorities have launched a relentless crackdown on dissent, killing hundreds and sending thousands behind bars.

*Reporting by Sayed Fathy and Mustafa Eid; Writing by Ali Abo Rezeg