A court in Minya in Upper Egypt has issued death sentences on 529 members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The defendants were charged with the murder of the deputy commander of the Matay district police station in Minya during clashes last August, following the regime’s crackdown on the Rabaa sit-in in Cairo last August.

Only 147 defendants were present at the hearing, with the others tried in absentia.

The sentences have been sent to the Grand Mufti for confirmation.

Hundreds of Brotherhood members, including most of the senior leadership, were among thousands of people detained after last July’s coup overthrew President Mohamed Morsi — a prominent figure in the organization. Others were among hundreds killed in the regime’s dispersal of pro-Morsi sit-ins last summer.

Activities of the Brotherhood, which had been banned since the 1950s, were declared illegal last September by the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters. It ordered the interim Government to seize Brotherhood funds and administer its frozen assets.