Egypt: 28 accused of forming group to topple government

Egypt's chief prosecutor on Sunday referred 28 people to a criminal court on charges including forming an illegal group aiming to topple the government, The Associated Press reported.

کد خبر: ۸۰۷۲۲۰

تاریخ: ۲۱ خرداد ۱۳۹۷ - ۰۹:۰۰

The statement by prosecutor Nabil Sadek said the suspects face an array of additional charges, including inciting violence and disseminating false news.

It added the suspects formed an illegal group, "The Egyptian Council for Change," to incite against the state and its institutions.

It noted that only nine of the 28 suspects are in custody. No date has been set for the trial, according to AP.

Egypt has intensified a long-running crackdown on dissent since President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi's re-election in March.

The arrests are part of a wider crackdown on dissent since the 2013 military ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, following mass protests against his one-year rule.

As part of the crackdown, thousands of Brotherhood supporters have been jailed and the group was blacklisted as a terrorist organization.

Last May, an Egyptian court sentenced the Muslim Brotherhood's supreme guide, Mohammed Badie, to life in prison for "planning violent attacks".

Earlier this year, Egypt froze the assets of leading government critic Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, weeks after he was arrested over alleged links to exiled members of the Muslim Brotherhood.