...the barbaric practice of sentencing a murderer to be punished for as long as his/her/its victim is dead...s against four men and handed 7-15 jail terms to 26 others for murdering two coppers and attempting to murder other security personnel in 2014.
The court convicted the defendants of joining a terrorist group, possessing explosive charges, and sabotaging state properties.
The verdict was issued after the mufti, the authority which issues religious edicts, approved the court's death penalties in a non-binding but legally required opinion as per the country's penal code.
The ruling can be appealed within 60 days before the Court of Cassation.
Another stage of the endless process complete.
The defendants, who were arrested in 2014 in the Nile Delta governorate of Sharqiya, were charged with forming a terrorist cell of 30 members with the aim of disrupting order, carrying out terrorist operations, vandalising police vehicles, murdering two coppers, and attempting to kill others.Ansar Bayt al Maqdis was rampaging across the Egyptian landscape at the time, going after police and other government officials following the overthrow by General Sisi of the elected Muslim Brotherhood government. At the time the group was affiliated with Al Qaeda, only later switching their allegiance to the more viciously romantic ISIS.
The defendants were found in possession of ammunitions, explosives, and publications calling for the suspension of the country's constitution, and preventing state institutions from doing their duties.