Egyptian court orders 683 Islamists to be executed

An Egyptian court has condemned the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and 682 of his supporters to death, a year after the Islamist group was ousted from power in a military coup.

Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood's general guide, and his fellow defendants faced charges over an attack on a police station in Minya in 2013 in which a policeman was killed.

If confirmed by Egypt's Grand Mufti, it would make him the most senior Brotherhood figure sentenced to death since one of the group's leading ideologues, Sayed Qutb, was sentenced and executed in 1966.

The decision sparked hysteria outside the court as several women fainted upon hearing news of the verdicts, while others wailed: 'Why? This is unfair!'

But after sentencing Badie and his followers, the judge then overturned the death penalties of another 492 Muslim Brotherhood members, jailing them for life instead.

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