The Cairo Criminal Court handed death sentences to three people who allegedly belonged to and “conspired” with Al-Qaeda, state media reported on Sunday.
The convicts, 33-year-old mechanic Amru Abuel-Ella, 24-year-old law student Mohamed Abdel-Haleem, and Dauod Al-Asady, received the sentences in absentia.
The court sentenced a fourth person, 22-year-old accountant Mohamed Bayoumy, to 10 years in prison.
The court had referred the sentences to the Grand Mufti last January in order to receive the religious opinion on the matter of persecution.
Egyptian state media reported that the four men had organised an “illegal terrorist group” from 2008 to 2013, aiming to delay the constitution and halt state institutions from proceeding with their work.
Judge Sha’ban Al-Shami had stated that the men worked in the interests of a foreign organisation to plan “terrorist operations” inside Egypt and against the Egyptian military in Sinai.
