The Cairo Criminal Court sentenced to death on Saturday eight defendants in the case known as the “storming of Helwan police station” by sending their papers to the Grand Mufti.
The final verdict will take place on 10 October.
The country’s Grand Mufti’s opinion concerning the death sentence is only advisory. There are 68 defendants in the case.
The defendants are accused of a number of charges, including illegal gatherings; thuggery; protesting without a permit; showing force and threatening to use force; damaging public and private property; and disturbing public peace.
The Helwan police station was stormed and then set ablaze, leading to the death of six individuals, namely three police officers and three civilians and to the injury of 19 others, including police officers and civilians.
In a previous session, the director of the Helwan police station testified, saying that around 3,000 people gathered around the station. They then proceeded to attack security forces with automatic weapons and Molotov cocktails thrown in large quantities at the station.
Among the defendants in the case is an elderly woman, Zeinab Ashour, and her two daughters. As they spoke to the judge during a previous trial session, Ashour had claimed that she was sick and was beaten in the prison, while her daughter denied all accusations levelled against them.
The incident occurred on the same day of the violent dispersal of the Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Al-Nahda Square sit-ins in August 2013.
On 14 August 2013, Egyptian security forces forcefully dispersed pro-Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins in Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Al-Nahda Squares, leaving hundreds dead.
