(AFP PHOTO / STR)
The Alexandria Criminal Court ratified on Monday the death sentence of the Islamist accused of throwing a child off a roof in Alexandria during the fatal clashes that occurred in July last year. The court order is in line with the Grand Mufti Shawqy Allam’s advice.
A total of 18 defendants were sentenced to life in prison, 8 were sentenced to 15 years, 30 were sentenced to 10 years, and a minor was sentenced to 7 years.
Hamdy Khalaf, lawyer at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIRPR) in Alexandria, said he was in charge of three of the defendants who were all sentenced to 10 years. Khalaf said that his clients were reported to have been arrested twice on two separate dates, which “proves that [his] clients were framed”, a claim that he had presented in court, “but the judge obviously was not convinced”.
Khalaf added that 59 suspects were present in court for the verdict while the remaining 4 suspects were sentenced in absentia, due to their status as “fugitives”.
He mentioned that the suspects shouted “void” after they heard the sentence, after which the judge adjourned the session and ordered that the court be evacuated, “even before the last sentence was announced”.
Prosecution referred 63 “Morsi supporters” to the Alexandria Criminal Court in August on charges of inciting fatal clashes and vandalism in Alexandria, according to a statement by the Prosecutor General.
The statement added that the suspect who was sentenced to death held the black flag of Al-Qaeda and was responsible for stabbing and throwing a child off the roof of a building, which resulted in his death.
In March the Alexandria Criminal Court found two of the defendants guilty of murder, attempted murder, willful injury, arson, deliberate destruction, possession of firearms and blades, inciting rioting, blocking public transportation, disturbing the public peace, joining a terrorist group, “thuggery”, disabling state facilities, spreading chaos and terrorising citizens, according to state-owned Al-Ahram.
Deadly clashes had erupted across the country, leaving 12 dead and 200 injured in Alexandria, according to state media. The clashes occurred two days after the 3 July military-backed ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi, on Friday, 5 July, a day the Muslim Brotherhood to as “Al-Furqan”.
Video footage, which has widely circulated, showed two Islamists throwing others off a roof in the Alexandria district of Sidi Gaber. The men’s actions resulted in one death, according to the Ministry of Interior.
