Egypt’s Cassation Court upholds death penalty for 22 over killing police officer, conducting 54 terror attacks

CAIRO – 25 November 2021: Egypt’s Court of Cassation rejected on Thursday an appeal by defendants of the “Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdes” case and upheld death penalty against 22 convicts in the case.

The ruling was originally issued by the Supreme State Security Criminal Court against the defendants for assassinating national security department officer Mohamed Mabrouk and conducting 54 terrorist attacks nationwide.

The Court of Cassation’s ruling also obliges the convicts to pay a fine of 198.7 million to the state.

In March last year, the Supreme State Security Criminal Court had sentenced terrorist leader Hisham Ashmawy, a former army officer, to death.

The court also sentenced Ahmed Ezzat to death over financing the assassination operation against Mabrouk and handed life imprisonment and other prison sentences to other defendants.

According to the investigations of the Public Prosecution in the Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdes case, the defendants assassinated officer Mohamed Abu Shakra and Major General Mohamed El-Saeed, a former assistant to interior minister.

They also attempted to assassinate Mohamed Ebrahim, the former interior minister and detonated the security directorates in Cairo and Dakahlia, according to the prosecution.

Terrorist attacks committed by the defendants resulted in the injury of more than 340 citizens, according to the investigations.