EGYPT: DEATH SENTENCES OF 183 CONFIRMED

An Egyptian court confirmed the death sentences of 183 supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi, including Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie, a judicial source told dpa.
In the case that began in April, presiding judge Saeed Youssef had issued preliminary death sentences for all 683 accused of storming a police station in the town of al-Idwa, in southern Minya province, and murdering a police officer.
The attack came as Islamists reacted with fury to the killings of hundreds of Morsi supporters in the police break-up of two Cairo protest camps.
On Saturday (June 21), Youssef confirmed the death sentences of 183, a judicial source told dpa.
Four received life sentences and 496 people were acquitted, the source said.
Saturday's ruling can be appealed. Most of the defendants were tried in absentia.
Badie is being held in a Cairo prison and faces several trials.