CAIRO, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court on Monday sentenced 16 loyalists of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group to 15 years in prison over inciting anti-state violence and protests, official MENA news agency reported.
The 16 members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, were arrested in 2014 in the Nile Delta province of Sharqiya, north of the capital Cairo, for spreading leaflets against the armed forces and the police and shouting anti-government slogans during protests.
The prosecution charged the defendants with holding illegal protests, blocking traffic, using guns and fireworks and terrifying citizens.
Morsi was deposed by the army in early July 2013, in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his Muslim Brotherhood.
The group was later blacklisted by the new government of President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi as "a terrorist organization."
Most Brotherhood leaders, members and supporters, including Morsi himself and the group's top chief Mohamed Badie, are currently in jail.
Many of them have received appealable death sentences and life imprisonments over charges varying from inciting violence and murder to espionage and jailbreak.
Morsi is serving a 20-year prison sentence over inciting deadly clashes between his supporters and opponents in late 2012 and a 25-year jail term over leaking classified documents to Qatar.
Since Morsi's ouster, Egypt has been facing a wave of terror attacks that killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers as well as civilians.
A Sinai-based militant group affiliated with the Islamic State regional terrorist group claimed responsibility for most of the attacks in Egypt over the past few years.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian forces have killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested thousands of suspects during the country's anti-terror war declared by Sisi, the army chief then, following Morsi's ouster.
