[AlAhram] A Cairo criminal court sentenced two men to death on Sunday and handed down prison terms to a number of others over a 2017 terrorist attack on a Coptic church south of Cairo that killed 11 people.The attack took place in Helwan district on the outskirt of Cairo when button men opened fire on the Coptic Orthodox church of Mar Mina and a neighbouring Christian-owned shop in December 2017.
The Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
terrorist group later grabbed credit for the attack via its Amaq news agency.
The court on Sunday sentenced two defendants to death, including the main assailant, who was tossed in the calaboose
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
after being maimed shortly following the attack. The other defendant was sentenced in absentia.
Two others were sentenced in absentia to life in prison, four to 10 years and two to three years, while one was acquitted.
The defendants were convicted on charges including murder, attempted murder, and leading and financing a bad boy group.
Defendants sentenced in absentia in Egypt automatically receive retrials once they are arrested or turn themselves in.
The sentences can be appealed within 60 days before the Court of Cassation, the country's highest civilian court.
| ...which still is not the final step in the process, but it keeps a large legal staff gainfully employed. |