As Egypt’s new president prepares to be sworn in, a court has sentenced 10 supporters of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood to death in absentia.<br /><br />Senior members of the group in the court on Saturday were told that they would have to wait to hear their fate after sentencing on 38 defendants was postponed.<br /><br />Assumed to be in hiding, those given the death penalty were convicted on charges including inciting violence during protests after the army toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi last July.<br /><br />Separately, an appeals court in Cairo overturned sentences given to four police officers over the deaths of 37 supposedly Islamist detainees.<br /><br />Sunday will see the inauguration of the main man behind Mursi’s overthrow, ex-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the landslide winner of last month’s presidential elections.<br /><br />While Western governments have voiced concern about democracy and human rights in Egypt, Sisi’s supporters believe a strong, military-backed government will put an end to political instability.
