Court jails for life Egyptian cleric, Yusuf al-Qaradawi

An Egyptian military court has sentenced eight people to death, including four in absentia, for alleged involvement in acts of violence in 2015.

Another 17 people were sentenced to life behind bars, including prominent Muslim scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who, along with six others, was tried in absentia on Wednesday.

The alleged acts of violence include the murder of a police officer in Cairo, a judicial source told Anadolu news agency on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to media.

Al-Qaradawi, the Egyptian-born head of the Doha-based International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), was reportedly charged with “incitement to murder”, “spreading false news” and “vandalising public property”.

Twenty-six defendants in the same case were acquitted, including four senior members of Egypt’s banned Muslim Brotherhood group.