Politics
08:42, 24-Jul-2017
Egypt sentences 28 people to death for top prosecutor's murder
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By CGTN's Jerry Owilli
An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced 28 people to death over the killing of the country’s top prosecutor.
The court also handed 38 others jail sentences of up to 25 years.
The accused were charged with the planning and murder of Egyptian State Prosecutor Hisham Barakat in 2015.
Egyptian state prosecutor Hisham Barakat sitting at his office in Cairo. /VCG Photo
Egyptian state prosecutor Hisham Barakat sitting at his office in Cairo. /VCG Photo
Saturday’s sentences came after consultations with the Grand Mufti, Egypt’s highest religious authority, over preliminary death sentences issued in June.
Barakat was killed in 2015 in a car bomb attack in Cairo after Egypt’s powerful military toppled former president Mohammed Morsi’s elected government in 2013.
People stand around burnt cars at the site of a car bomb attack on the convoy of Egyptian public prosecutor Hisham Barakat near his house at Heliopolis district in Cairo, Egypt. /VCG Photo
People stand around burnt cars at the site of a car bomb attack on the convoy of Egyptian public prosecutor Hisham Barakat near his house at Heliopolis district in Cairo, Egypt. /VCG Photo
Morsi’s Islamist supporters had vowed to avenge it by increasing attacks on pro-military officials and judiciary.
No group claimed responsibility for Barakat’s assassination, but police later said the perpetrators were members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood organization.
Morsi became Egypt’s first democratically-elected president of the country in 2011 after the end of Mubarak’s decades-long rule, but was ousted by Egypt’s powerful army following a mass uprising against him in 2013. Army head Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi was subsequently elected president.