The Cairo Criminal Court sentenced Mohamed Samir to life imprisonment in absentia on Saturday on charges of joining the Syrian rebel militant group Jund Al-Sham.
Another defendant, named Ahmed Abdel Al-Wahab, received a ten-year imprisonment.
The two defendants were charged with joining the group in 2013 and planning “terrorist attacks”.
Jund Al-Sham is a militant group, among many others, engaged in the Syrian conflict, heavily clashing with regime troops and other rebel groups.
In another case, the same court also sentenced a defendant named Ahmed Fawzy to 15 years in prison on charges of joining a group named “Lions of the Caliphate”, which is allegedly following the “Islamic State” (IS).
The Egyptian regime has been staging a heavy crackdown on militant groups with Islamist inclinations. Dozens of cases are being looked into by the Egyptian judiciary, with hundreds of defendants charged with either establishing or joining extremist groups.
Last week, the State Security Prosecution renewed the detention of Egyptian student Islam Hamzay for 15 days, after he was accused of recruiting young men to travel and fight among the troops of the militant group Al-Nusra Front in Syria.
