2nd July, 2017
(AFP Photo/Attila Kisbenedek)
An Egyptian court on Sunday upheld the death sentences against 20 people on charges of storming a police station and killing 14 officers on the outskirts of Cairo four years ago.
The 20 were part of a total 156 defendants accused in the August 2013 attacks that took place following the army’s removal of President Mohammed Morsi.
The rest of the defendants received prison terms varying between 10 years and life sentences, while 21 were acquitted by the court.
“The defendants wanted to take revenge for dispersing the sit-ins,” judge Mohammed Fahmy of the Cairo Criminal Court said prior to the verdict, referring to the sit-ins that were held in the Egyptian capital in opposition to the ouster of Morsi.
The preliminary death penalty was announced by Cairo Criminal Court in April, and referred to the Chief Islamic Legal Authority, the Grand Mufti, for a non-binding opinion as required by Egyptian law.
The court accused the suspects of using RPG shells and Molotov cocktails in storming the police station before they killed the chief, his deputy and 12 police personnel.
A video posted online at the time from the scene at Kerdasa police station showed bodies of policemen lined up against a wall alongside injured officers as a mob hurled abuse.