The court issued preliminary death sentences against the defendants in October and referred them the grand mufti, whose opinion is legally required in death penalty
cases but is not binding.The court on Thursday issued a final verdict after the mufti endorsed the sentencing recommendation, which can still be appealed within 60 days.
Ajnad Misr, or Soldiers of Egypt, emerged in early 2014,
| ... after breaking off from Ansar Bayt al Maqdis, which was then still linked to Al Qaeda. Possibly they allied with the Muslim Brotherhood after the Egyptian army evicted the MB from the government, but at any rate they ranked #12 on the UAE terror blacklist. They mostly blew up Cairo policemen with IEDs they made themselves... |
Its leader was killed by security forces in 2015,
| ... that would be Hammam Mohammed Attia the bomb maker, who died in his beloved Giza at the age of 33. At the time of his death he was in possession of an automatic firearm, a pistol, four bombs including one with a magnet so that it could be attached to a car, 18 incomplete bombs, materials used to make bombs and over EGP 76,000... |
The defendants were convicted between 2013 and mid-2015 of charges including murder of security forces, attempted murder, joining an outlawed group, and possessing firearms.
Seventeen others of a total of 44 defendants in the same case have been sentenced to life imprisonment, while five were acquitted. The rest received between 5-15 years in jail.