(cnn)an egyptian court sentenced the leader of the muslim brotherhood, mohamed badie, on saturday to death by hanging, along with 13 members of his group the sentences will be appealed the criminal court sentenced 36 other defendants to life in prison on charges of plotting terrorist attacks against state facilities they faced charges that include 'funding the rabaa al adawiya sit in'a mass protest in cairo in august 2013 that was forcibly dispersed by security personneland spreading 'false information' to destabilize egypt they were arrested in a sweeping crackdown on supporters of former president mohamed morsy, the country's first democratically elected president, who was overthrown in 2013 in a military coup that bitterly split egyptians one of those sentenced to life in prison was mohamad soltan, a 27 year old us egyptian activist he has been languishing in cairo's notorious tora prison, where he has been on a hunger strike for more than 14 months the us state department released a statement condemning soltan's sentence and calling for his release on humanitarian grounds the presiding judge for badie, soltan and the other defendants was mohamed nagy shehata, who is known for his harsh verdicts shehata has sentenced more than 180 people to death and was the original judge in a high profile case case involving al jazeera journalists badie had been sentenced to death before on a conviction related to a deadly attack on a police station he has also been sentenced to life in prison for inciting violence during 2013's unrest the egyptian news outlet al ahram reported that badie had been sentenced to death twice before, but an appeals court overturned one verdict, and egypt's grand mufti disapproved of the other during the summer of unrest, hundreds of people died when the police forcefully cleared camps set up by protesting morsy supporters and when security forces opened fire on morsy backers who attacked police stations, government buildings and churches the government accused the protesters of inciting violence after the coup, the new government outlawed the muslim brotherhood morsy was arrested, and he too faces trial soltan's sister, hanaa, is anxious about what the future holds for her family she wrote a letter to her brother expressing her feelings 'dear mohamed,' the letter read 'i'm often asked why, and how, you've kept up your hunger strike for 14 months now, despite our pleas for you to end it i've watched your body go from a plump basketball playing frame to one that has withered down to its bones 'your face, with its beautiful smile often grinning, now looks permanently in pain and, all i can do to explain is to tell people that it's the only form of control you have to hold on tonow more than ever, on the eve of your sentencing' cnn's don melvin contributed to this report
mohamed soltan 27 year old soltan
the death sentences will be appealed  mohamed soltan, a 27 year old us egyptian activist on a hunger strike, is sentenced to life in prison  letter from soltan's sister: 'your face, with its beautiful smile  now looks permanently in pain'