EL-TOR: An Egyptian court sentenced to death three Jordanians on Thursday for trying to smuggle hashish into the country earlier this year, an AFP correspondent reported.
The verdict pronounced by a court in El-Tor, in the south of the Sinai peninsula, has to be ratified by Egypt’s top cleric, Ali Gomaa, before the sentence can be carried out.
Only one of the Jordanians was present in court for the verdict, while the other three were sentenced in their absence.
He was arrested in January by security officials as he drove a truck into Egypt’s Red Sea port of Nuweiba which prosecutors said contained 173 kilograms (380 pounds) of hashish concealed in the tyres.
The suspect identified three other Jordanians as his accomplices and all four were tried on charges of drugs trafficking, a security official said.
In December, another Egyptian court sentenced to death by hanging three Syrian men for trafficking heroin and opium.
Egypt applies the death penalty infrequently. The London-based rights group Amnesty International says that only one person was executed in 2007. -AFP
