496 Dead in Egypt 'Terror' Attacks since Morsi's Ouster, Two New Muslim Brotherhood Supporters Sentenced to Death

إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية W460

An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced to death two supporters of deposed president Mohammed Morsi convicted of throwing youths off an apartment block roof, judicial sources said.

One youth thrown from the building in Alexandria was killed. The court submitted its verdict for approval to the mufti, the government's official interpreter of Islamic law, the sources said.

The latest death sentences come despite international outrage at Egypt handing down the death penalty to 529 Islamists on Monday after just two hearings.

That verdict can be appealed, and the mufti has upheld death sentences in the past.

The men sentenced to death on Saturday were among 63 people on trial over deadly violence in Alexandria's Sidi Gaber neighborhood on July 5 last year, two days after the army overthrew Morsi.

The trial was adjourned until May 19 when the verdicts for the other defendants are expected to be announced.

The violence in Alexandria broke out as supporters and opponents of Morsi took to the streets of Egypt's second city, the first to demand his reinstatement and the others to celebrate the end of his one-year rule.

Amateur video posted on social networks at the time showed men throwing two youths off the roof of the building.

It showed four young men cowering on the rooftop who are followed by several older men, one of them bearded and holding a jihadist flag.

The men are seen throwing stones at the youths and later one is thrown from the roof.

The video goes on to show club-wielding men beating the body of the youth.

Another man is later thrown from the roof but is only injured.

Egyptian authorities later said only one youth was killed in the attack and that one man had been arrested in connection with his death.

Also on Saturday, the Egyptian foreign ministry said militants have killed 496 people since the military ousted Morsi, mostly soldiers and policemen.

Attacks have surged since the army removed Morsi last July 3 and the military-installed authorities launched a deadly crackdown on his supporters.

A foreign ministry "factsheet" sent to media said 252 police and 187 military personnel were killed in "terrorist" attacks, along with 57 civilians.

Most of the attacks were in the northern Sinai Peninsula and targeted policemen and soldiers.

The army has poured troops into the mountainous and underdeveloped region bordering the Palestinian Gaza Strip and Israel, to combat growing militancy.

But militants have also launched brazen attacks farther afield.

In mid-March, gunmen killed six soldiers at a checkpoint in Cairo.

Al-Qaida-inspired group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Partisans of Jerusalem) has claimed most of the deadliest attacks, including a car bombing at a police headquarters in Cairo, shooting down a military helicopter and the suicide bombing of a tourist bus in the Sinai.

The Sinai-based group said the attacks were in retaliation for the crackdown on Morsi supporters.

More than 1,400 people have been killed in the crackdown, according to rights group Amnesty International. Thousands have been jailed.

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