An Egyptian court on Thursday sentenced 21 Muslim Brotherhood members to death, in the latest crackdown against the country’s largest opposition group.

An Egypt court has upheld jail sentences for several Muslim Brotherhood leaders on charges of “collaborating with Hamas”, throwing out an appeal even as relations between the country and the Palestinian group have continued to improve in recent months.

Human rights lawyer Negad al-Borai and human rights activist and head of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information Gamal Eid were questioned by a judge on Tuesday in a long-running case targeting non-governmental organizations accused of receiving foreign funding with the intention of harming national security.

An Egyptian court sentenced three persons to death, including the senior aide of Hisham Al-Ashmawy who was executed last year, after finding them guilty of terrorism charges over their alleged involvement in an Al-Qaeda affiliated militant group.

An Egyptian court yesterday requested that Interpol issue an arrest notice for prominent contractor Mohamed Ali and two others for “inciting violence and spreading fake news, and joining a terrorist group.”

Hundreds of Egyptian journalists have called for the release of all political prisoners, local media reported yesterday.

Pressure is building on Egypt from human rights organisations to halt the execution of 12 men on death row who could be hung at any time.

Egypt announced Tuesday the release of more than 2,000 prisoners on instructions from President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, according to state media, Anadolu Agency reported.

Over the last 24 hours, Egyptian authorities have released six high-profile political prisoners who were being held in remand detention, some of them for over two years.

An Egyptian court has ordered the release of 130 defendants held in political cases this week, according to a human rights lawyer, Anadolu Agency reports. Opposition website Darb cited human rights lawyer Khaled Ali as saying that the Cairo Criminal Court released 130 defendants held in 20 political cases.