(VOVworld) – On Sunday, a Cairo criminal court handed death or life imprisonment sentences in absentia to nine members of the now banned Muslim Brotherhood for violent crimes in Giza province in 2013.

Anti-government protesters (Photo: Reuters)

The court sentenced six people to death and three others to life imprisonment for their involvement in violent attacks known as the Omraneya event in November 2013.

The nine were charged with illegally gathering, protesting, blocking roads, and possessing firearms. The prosecution also charged them with committing assaults, murdering a child, and attempting to murder others.

The Muslim Brotherhood was listed as a terrorist group in 2013. Its leaders, including Mohamed Badie, the group’s supreme leader, either fled Egypt or were arrested and convicted on various charges. Since ex-president Mohamed Morsi was toppled in July 2013, hundreds of MB supporters have been killed and thousands of others imprisoned as the Cairo government has clamped down on the group.