Egypt to execute 188 Muslim Brotherhood supporters

Egypt is set to execute 188 Muslim Brotherhood supporters for attacking a police station in Cairo last year.

The individuals staged the attack on the same day that hundreds died when Egyptian security forces stormed protest camps set up by Muslim Brotherhood supporters.

The sentences are subject to the approval of the Grand Mufti, the highest official of religious law in a Sunni or Ibadi Muslim country. A final verdict is due on 24 January 2015.

Egypt has yet to carry out hundreds of death sentences that have been passed. However, critics say the country's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is looking to restore authoritarian practices that led to the Arab Spring in 2011 and then the coup in 2013.

Since the crackdown began a year ago, over 1,400 people have been killed and more than 16,000 arrested, according to rights groups such as Human Rights Watch.

Former President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in the so-called Arab Spring uprising of 2011 and remains in custody.

In 2013, President Mohammed Morsi, who was the first democratically elected head of state in Egyptian history, was ousted following a coup.

He was criticised for letting the Muslim Brotherhood monopolise the political scene after the Islamist terrorist organisation chose him as their presidential candidate in April 2012.

Al-Sisi won 96.9% of the vote in May's presidential election against sole competitor Hamdeen Sabahi.

Morsi faces a series of charges levelled against him by Sisi's administration and has denounced his trial at the hands of an Egyptian court which he has called illegitimate.

More death penalties may be passed as Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie is facing execution after two separate trials.