The Brotherhood, in a statement issued in
London, described the ruling as chilling and said it would “continue to
use all peaceful means to end military rule”.
In another case signaling growing intolerance
of dissent by military-backed authorities, a pro-democracy movement
that helped ignite the uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in
2011 was banned by court order, judicial sources said.
The death sentence passed on Mohamed Badie,
the Brotherhood’s general guide, will infuriate members of the group
which has been the target of raids, arrests and bans since the army
forced President Mohamed Mursi from power in July.
Some Brotherhood members fear pressure from
security forces and the courts could drive some young members to
violence against the movement’s old enemy, the Egyptian state.
Badie, considered a conservative hardliner,
was charged with crimes including inciting violence that followed the
army overthrow of Mursi, who is also on trial on an array of charges.
The slight, 70-year-old veterinary professor stood trial in Cairo in a separate case hours after the sentence was affirmed.
“If they executed me one thousand times I
will not retreat from the right path,” Badie was quoted as saying by
lawyer Osama Mursi, who attended one of his trials in Cairo.
The comments were published on the Facebook page of Osama Mursi, son of the Brotherhood leader ousted as president.
Two security officials told Reuters that
Badie appeared relaxed and joked, asking other Brotherhood members to
buy him the red outfit that prisoners condemned to death wear.
Tough measures against the Brotherhood
suggest the authorities still see it as a major threat, even though most
of its leaders and thousands of members are behind bars.
Authorities are well aware that the movement founded in 1928 has survived repression under successive Egyptian autocrats.
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