On Tuesday, a court in the port city of Alexandria sentenced 78 boys aged between 13 and 17 to prison for joining demonstrations held by the Muslim Brotherhood over the past three months, a judicial official said on Wednesday.
“The 78 minors, members of the Muslim Brotherhood, were arrested for participating in protests organized by the group calling for the downfall of the regime in which they blocked roads and transportation, and terrified citizens,” Egypt’s official, MENA, news agency reported.
The teenagers were handed prison sentences of between two and five years each.
This came after 86 Morsi supporters were sentenced in September to up to 15 years in prison each over allegations of clashing with security forces during a protest in January.
In another case, 11 defendants were given 10-year sentences each for allegedly causing violence outside the capital, Cairo, last December.
The Egyptian government has so far jailed more than 15,000 supporters of Morsi ever since the army ousted him in July 2013.
Morsi still awaits several trials which, if found guilty, may carry the death penalty.
Human rights groups say about 1,400 people have been killed, 22,000 arrested, and some 200 people handed death sentences in the turmoil since the Morsi’s ouster, which was led by the current president and the former head of the armed forces, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
