Egypt's highest civilian court on Monday upheld death sentences for 12 senior Muslim Brotherhood figures over a 2013 sit-in which ended with security forces killing hundreds of protesters, judicial sources said.
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The ruling, which cannot be appealed, means the 12 men could face execution pending approval by President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. They include Abdul Rahman Al-Bar, commonly described as the group's mufti or top religious scholar, Mohamed El-Beltagi, a former member of parliament, and Osama Yassin, a former minister.
Many Muslim Brotherhood figures have been sentenced to death in other cases related to the unrest that followed the military's ousting of Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, but the Court of Cassation ordered retrials.
Rights groups have documented a sharp rise in the number of executions in Egypt, with at least 51 carried out so far this year according to Amnesty International.
In September 2018, an Egyptian criminal court sentenced 75 people to death and issued varying jail terms for more than 600 others. Many defendants were tried in absentia.
