Egypt arrests Sunni scholar sentenced to death

CAIRO — Egyptian police arrested Saturday a fugitive Sunni scholar who had been sentenced to death in absentia in a trial involving the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, state media reported.

Abdallah Hassan Barakat, a former senior academic at the prestigious Al Azhar University, was arrested at a checkpoint in Cairo, the official MENA news agency reported.

He was travelling in a car with his son and two of his brothers.

Barakat was among 10 fugitives sentenced to death earlier this month in a case in which Muslim Brotherhood chief Mohamed Badie and 37 others, all in custody, are awaiting a verdict on July 5.

They are accused of inciting violence in which two people were killed in the Nile Delta city of Qaliub, only days after the military ousted president Mohamed Morsi last July.

Under Egyptian law, Barakat is now entitled to a retrial.

After the army ousted Morsi, Badie and thousands of the deposed president’s supporters were arrested in a police crackdown that also left more than 1,400 dead.

Hundreds have already been sentenced to death in often speedy trials.