A Cairo criminal court handed life sentences on Saturday to two supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and 15-year jail terms to 16 others in the case known as the 2013 “Boulaq Abo El-Ela” riots. The court acquitted 86 others in the same case. A life sentence amounts to 25-years in jail, according to Egypt's penal code. The defendants can still appeal their sentences in front of the Court of Cassation. The case dates back to August 2013, when violence and riots broke out in the vicinity of Boulaq's police station in central Cairo following the security forces' dispersal of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi at the Rabaa El-Adaweya and Nahda sit-ins. The defendants were found guilty of murder, joining an armed group calling for the overthrow of the government, use of violence, assaulting citizens, and vandalising public and private property. They were also convicted of possessing weapons and bombs used for murder, attempted murder, and thuggery.
