Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie jailed for life

A court in Egypt on Monday jailed Muslim Brotherhood chief Mohamed Badie to life in prison for inciting clashes that killed six people, in his third such sentence.

The 71-year-old has already been sentenced to life terms in two other separate cases, as well as being handed down a death sentence along with 182 others for inciting violence in which two policemen were killed last August.

On Monday, the Cairo court jailed him and 14 other Islamist leaders including the Brotherhood's Essam al-Erian and Mohamed al-Beltagy to life for inciting deadly clashes in July 2013 in a western neighbourhood of the capital.

The violence between Islamist supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi and security forces left six people dead and several wounded.

Life sentence in Egypt amounts to 25 years in jail.

After the army ousted Morsi in July last year, Egypt was rocked by clashes between his supporters and security forces, with the authorities accusing Brotherhood leaders of calling for "violent protests" demanding his reinstatement.

A government crackdown on Morsi supporters since his ouster has left at least 1,400 people dead and 15,000 jailed.

An Egyptian court released prominent political activist Alaa Abdel Fattah and two other defendants on bail on Monday.

The judge overseeing the case also stepped aside at the request of the defence legal team.

The decision prompted displays of joy inside the courtroom.

The three defendants released on Monday will face a retrial, and in the meantime will resume their hunger strike until the controversial protest law under which they were originally charged is abolished.

Abdel Fattah has already been on hunger strike for 27 days.

Abdel Fattah had been sentenced along with 24 others to 15 years in prison on charges of violating Egypt’s controversial 2013 protest law.

Secular anti-government activists have generally recieved less scrutiny and more lenient sentences than Islamist activists.