(VOVworld) – On Sunday, a criminal court in the northern Egyptian city of Tanta convicted 23 Muslim Brotherhood members for fomenting acts of violence that occurred in 2013 and sentenced them to life in prison.

Clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Mursi in Alexandria on December 14, 2012 (Photo: Reuters)

The 23 defendants were charged with creating chaos, rioting, and disturbing the peace in August, 2013, days after the dispersal of two encampments set up in support of former president Mohamed Morsi. A coup d’état to oust President Morsi in July, 2013, provoked demonstrations by his supporters, who expressed outrage at his ouster at two large encampments set up in different areas of Greater Cairo. After Egyptian security forces dispersed the encampments, violence broke out in several locations in Egypt, killing or injuring thousands of people. An independent investigation released a report last November confirming 615 deaths and 1,648 people injured in the campaign to disperse demonstrators at Rabaa Al-Adaweya square in Cairo.