Giza Criminal Court, headed by Judge Nagy Shehata, issued death sentences to 10 persons, and life sentences to another five, for being accused of forming a terrorist cell targeting police forces and security checkpoints through assassinations and bombings.
The General Prosecution had charged the defendants with joining an illegal group, hindering the functioning of the constitution and law, barring state institutions from performing their work, violating people’s rights, harming national unity and social peace, attempting to overthrow the regime by force, and attacking members of the armed forces and police.
The death sentences included two handed in absentia and the life sentences included one in absentia.
These rulings can be appealed before another court. However, the death sentences have been referred to the Grand Mufti, Egypt’s highest Sunni Muslim authority, who summits a non-binding opinion on death sentences.
Local media reported that the defendants were supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was designated a terrorist group by the Egyptian government after the 2013 ouster of Islamist former president Mohamed Morsi.
Throughout recent years, hundreds of extremists, and Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters, have received death sentences, while others are still facing trials.
