Advertisement

Egypt court confirms 20 police killings death sentences

Monday September 24 2018
gavel

An Egyptian court on September 24, 2018 upheld death sentences for 20 Islamists convicted of killing 13 policemen during violent unrest after the military overthrow of Mohamed Morsy in 2013. FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

By AFP

An Egyptian court on Monday upheld death sentences for 20 Islamists convicted of killing 13 policemen during violent unrest after the military overthrow of Mohamed Morsy in 2013.

"The verdict is final and cannot be appealed," a judicial official said.

On August 14, 2013, a month after Morsy was overthrown by the army, security forces forcibly dispersed two pro-Morsy protest camps in Cairo in an operation that killed more than 700 people.

Several leaders

Hours later, a furious crowd attacked a police station in the Cairo suburb of Kerdassa, where 13 policemen were killed.

Egypt's courts have sentenced hundreds of people to death or lengthy jail terms over the unrest, including Morsy and several leaders of his Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Advertisement

The same court on Monday sentenced 80 people to 25-year prison terms and a further 34 to 15 years each in jail over the Kerdassa incident. It also acquitted 21 defendants.

A single opponent

Earlier this month an Egyptian court upheld death sentences against 75 people in one of the largest mass trials since the 2011 that toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak.

Former armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi won the presidency in 2014 after leading the ouster of Morsy following mass protests against the Islamist's rule.

President Sisi won re-election with 97 percent of the vote in March this year, against a single opponent widely seen as a token challenger.

Advertisement