Port Said Criminal Court ordered Sunday the release of five defendants, upheld the sentence against one defendant, and sentenced another defendant to three years in prison, issuing a verdict concerning seven defendants out of 36 in the retrial of the case known as the "Ismailia clashes." The defendants were accused of killing three citizens in Ismailia governorate and attempting to kill 16 others, as well as attempting to occupy a governorate building in July 2013 following the ouster of Islamist former president Mohamed Morsi. In May, the court sentenced the 36 defendants, which include Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and other top Brotherhood leaders, to life in prison. A life sentence means 25 years in jail, according to the Egyptian penal code. The government has banned the Muslim Brotherhood, the group Morsi hails from, designating it a terrorist organisation in December 2013.
