Politics
07:45, 11-Oct-2017
Egyptian court sentences eight to death over 2013 police station ambush
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A Cairo criminal court on Tuesday sentenced eight men to death for storming a police station in a city just south of the Egyptian capital in 2013.
The eight were part of a group of men that ambushed the Helwan Police Station on Aug. 14, 2013. Three officers and three civilians were killed in the attack; the station was burned, as well as 20 police vehicles.
The attack came after security forces had dispersed two sit-ins by supporters of Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, who was overthrown by the military in 2013.
People take part in a protest against the Egyptian government's crackdown on supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohamed Morsi, near the Egyptian embassy in Jakarta, Aug. 19, 2013. /Reuters Photo
People take part in a protest against the Egyptian government's crackdown on supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohamed Morsi, near the Egyptian embassy in Jakarta, Aug. 19, 2013. /Reuters Photo
The court also sentenced 50 other people with sentences that ranged from three years to life in prison.
The men were charged with committing acts of terrorism, murder, illegal assembly, destruction of public property and possession of automatic weapons.
They had been accused of hurling rocks at the police station, burning tires and gas cylinders, as well as shooting at police officers inside the station.
The death sentences came following a July criminal court ruling that referred the preliminary verdicts to the country's Grand Mufti for a consultative non-binding opinion, as required by the country's penal code.
The verdicts can be appealed before the Court of Cassation within 60 days, with the court empowered to order a retrial.
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