Egypt upholds life sentence for Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide

An Egyptian court has upheld life sentences against the top leader of the country's now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group and 36 others, including former ministers, in murder and violence charges, and upheld death sentences against 10 others tried in absentia.

The Appeals Court issued its verdict on Wednesday, rejecting an appeal by Mohammad Badie, the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The verdict came two years after a criminal court sentenced him and 36 others to life imprisonment.

The 47 defendants, including former youth and supplies ministers, had been charged with murder, attempted murder, resisting authorities, assaulting policemen, sabotage, and blocking a main road in the Nile Delta city of Qalyubia.

The case dates back to July 2013, in the aftermath of the military-led overthrow of Islamist President Mohammad Morsi.

Badie, 73, was taken to hospital in July after he suffered a sudden circulatory collapse while in prison.

The Egyptian Revolutionary Council has expressed concern about Badie's conditions in prison.

"Badie and other dissidents are held in conditions that all international human rights organisations view as beyond appalling and are subjected to torture, malnutrition, overcrowding and the withholding of medical treatment," it said in a statement at the time.

On Saturday, an appeals court upheld a 20-year sentence against deposed president Morsi.

The ruling is the first final verdict against Morsi on charges arising from the killing of protesters during anti-government demonstrations in 2012.

London-based Amnesty International has denounced the initial trial as a "travesty of justice".

The Muslim Brotherhood has been blacklisted and targeted in a crackdown that has killed hundreds of his supporters and jailed thousands since the 2013 military takeover.