Egypt Sentences 188 Muslim Brotherhood Supporters To Death

A court in Egypt has sentenced 188 Muslim Brotherhood supporters to death over a 2013 attack on a police station near Cairo that left more than 10 policemen dead.

The ruling is preliminary.

Death sentences in Egypt are subject to approval by the country's highest Muslim religious authority, the Grand Mufti.

Most of than 144 of the defendants are already in custody, while the rest have been sentenced in absentia.

The defendants were found guilty of killing the officers after storming a police station in Kerdasa.

The final sentence is due on January 24.

Egyptian authorities have arrested hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members and sentenced many to death since the ouster of Islamist President Mohammad Morsi by the army.

None of those sentenced has been executed so far.

The crackdown has been criticized by rights groups.

Based on reporting by AFP, dpa, and Reuters