The court in the central Egyptian city of Asyut sentenced 108 people in absentia to life in prison and 26 others to 10 years in jail each.

The defendants were convicted of attacking a police station in the town of Mallawi, located in the province of Minya and south of Cairo, on August 14, 2013, when security forces dispersed two pro-Morsi rallies in the capital, killing hundreds of demonstrators.

Nine policemen were reportedly killed in the assault against the police station in Mallawi.

Mohamed Morsi

In 2013, the Egyptian army started a systematic crackdown on Morsi supporters. Since his overthrow on July 3 that year, thousands of anti-government protesters, mostly Brotherhood supporters, have been sentenced to jail by civilian and military courts.

Hundreds of the ex-president’s supporters, and Morsi himself, have been sentenced to death.

Nearly 300 of the political detainees have died in detention facilities. Human rights activists say “deliberate and systematic medical negligence” on the part of prison authorities, torture, overcrowded prisons, and overall “unhealthy and inhumane” conditions imposed on more than 40,000 political prisoners in the detention facilities are the main causes of the deaths; Press TV reported.

S/SH