Prosecutor General Nabil Sadek ordered on Sunday the detention of six persons suspected of taking part in the assassination of former prosecutor general Hisham Barakat, according to state media.
The suspects will be detained for 15 days pending investigations. The Ministry of Interior is set to issue a statement on the case later on Wednesday, according to state-run newspaper Al-Ahram.
A source at the general prosecution told Daily News Egypt that Sadek will also issue a statement detailing the arrests.
Barakat was assassinated last June in an attack that targeted his motorcade. The attack was not claimed by a militant group. However, Al-Murabitoon, an Islamist militant group linked to Al-Qaeda, was widely linked to the attack. The group is believed to be led by former military special forces officer Hisham Al-Ashmawy.
The assassination, which marked the first of such a high-profile figure since 1990, sparked instantaneous response from the state. Shortly after Barakat’s funeral, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi announced expected legal amendments to take place to speed up trials and the enforcement of verdicts.
Al-Sisi said the Penal Code contains “obstructions to judges’ work, mainly in preventing the punishment of those who shed the blood of Egyptians”.
