An Egyptian court has sentenced 14 people, including an adviser to an ousted president Mohammed Morsi, Abdullah Shehata, to life in prison for membership in the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
The Al Ahram news website reported that out of the 14, eight were sentenced in absentia.
The Cairo Criminal Court's verdict included 15-year-sentences that were handed down to six other defendants while one person was sentenced to 10 years. The verdicts can be appealed.
Along with Brotherhood membership, charges included possessing firearms, violating citizens' personal freedoms and disrupting constitutional provisions, the New York Times reported.
Egypt has cracked down severely on Islamists since the 2013 ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, who hailed from the Brotherhood, following mass protests against his one-year divisive rule. The Brotherhood was designated a "terrorist organization" months after Morsi's ouster.
