A military court on Sunday handed the Libyan terrorist Abdel Rahim Al-Mesmari a death sentence over his involvement in the Bahariya Oasis terrorist attack, publicly known as Al-Wahat shootout case, according to a military statement.
The court’s verdict in the lawsuit No 160 of 2018 also punished 22 defendants with life imprisonment and aggravated imprisonment sentences. Ten others were handed life sentences and aggravated imprisonment in absentia. The court also acquitted 20 defendants.
Al-Mesmari is the only surviving militant of a group involved in the killing of 16 police officers and injured 13 others in a shootout with security forces during a raid on a terrorist hideout in Bahariya Oasis in the Western Desert, about 85 km southwest of Cairo in October 2017.
The defendants are accused of belonging to an outlawed militant group in Libya, targeting police and army personnel and destroying their weapons and equipment, attacking state institutions, and possessing unlicensed firearms and explosives.
They are also accused of attempting to murder other police personnel and kidnapped and held Egyptian police captain Mohamed Al–Hayes as a hostage.
The military conducted an airstrike in coordination with the police, targeting and eliminating the rest of the perpetrators who escaped, and liberating officer Al–Hayes. Al-Mesmari was arrested following Al-Wahat attack.
Investigations revealed that Al-Mesmari, the main defendant in the Al-Wahat case, was trained by Egyptian terrorist Emad Al-Din Ahmed who was killed in an airstrike in the Western Desert.
Al-Mesmari received military training inside a militant camp in Libya, which included the use of heavy weapons, manufacturing explosive devices, the investigations revealed.
He infiltrated Egypt to establish a militant camp in the Al-Wahat desert intending to carry out aggressive attacks against minority Christians’ worship places and vital institutions, according to the investigations.
