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| The authorities have cracked down harshly on Islamists since Mohammed Morsi was removed in July |
A court in Egypt has sentenced to death 528 supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
They were convicted of charges including murdering a policeman and attacks on people and property.
The group is among over 1,200 supporters of Mr Morsi on trial, including senior Brotherhood members.
Authorities have cracked down harshly on Islamists since Mr
Morsi was removed by the military in July. Hundreds have been killed and
thousands arrested.
They are expected to appeal.
The verdict now goes to Egypt's supreme religious authority,
the Grand Mufti (a senior Islamic scholar), for approval or rejection,
says the BBC's Orla Guerin in Cairo.
Campaigners say that while death sentences are often handed down in Egypt, few have been carried out in recent years.
The final trial session will not be held until 28 April. so
there is some time left before the sentence is confirmed and there will
be time to appeal in that period, our correspondent adds.
The Muslim Brotherhood's spokesman in London, Abdullah
el-Haddad, told the BBC the sentences showed that Egypt was now a
dictatorship.
"It may be just a threat message and there will be appeals to
the court and the decision of the court will change, but this is the
new Egypt after the coup. This is the new dictatorship that [army chief
and defence minister Field Marshal] Abdul Fattah al-Sisi is trying to
establish."
Mr Haddad said the Muslim Brotherhood's general guide
Mohammed Badie was among those convicted, though other reports say Mr
Badie is only due in court on Tuesday.
In absentia
The court in Minya, south of the capital, Cairo, issued its
ruling after only two sessions in which the defendants' lawyers
complained they had no chance to present their case.
Lawyers have accused the presiding judge of "veering away
from all legal norms" and denying justice to the accused, our
correspondent adds.
They were convicted, among other charges, of the murder of the deputy commander of the Matay district police station in Minya.
Some 147 suspects were in court for the trial - the others were convicted in absentia, reports say.
The court also acquitted 16 other defendants.
The attacks took place in August after security forces broke
up two camps of pro-Morsi supporters in Cairo, killing hundreds of
people.
Mr Morsi was ousted by the military last July following mass
street protests against his government. He is facing four separate
trials
There has since been a severe crackdown on his Muslim
Brotherhood group, as well as on other activists seen as hostile to the
military-backed interim government.
The Brotherhood has been declared a terrorist organisation and authorities have punished any public show of support for it.
A second group of 700 Morsi supporters is due to go on trial on Tues
Source: BBC NEWS
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