Four people sentenced to life imprisonment, three others acquitted of charges of ‘Spying for ISIS’ in Egypt

CAIRO – 15 May 2022:  An Egyptian court, presided by Judge Mohamed Sherine Fahmy, sentenced four people to life imprisonment, a woman to three years in prison, and acquitted three others in the case known as “Spying for Daesh,” on Sunday.

The criminal court put three convicts on the terrorist lists, charging them with collaborating with the terrorist organization “ISIS”.

All of the defendants were charged with financing a terrorist group and committing terrorist acts against the state over the period between 2012 and August 2018.

Three days ago, another Cairo criminal court handed 15-year-prison sentences to 25 people in Rabaa sit-in dispersal case, which dates back to 2013, when Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated President Mohamed Morsi was ousted.

The court also sentenced a juvenile to 5 years in prison in the same case and ordered the acquittal of 12 defendants during the retrial.

In June 2021, Egypt’s Court of Cassation upheld the death sentences against 12 members of the banned group of the Muslim Brotherhood, commuted the death sentence to life for 32 others, and upheld previous sentences of imprisonment against other dozens in a case dubbed in media as “Trial of Rabaa sit-in dispersal.”

Also, the case was dropped against late Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed el-Erian due to his death in August 2020. The court sentences are unchallengeable.

Those sentenced to death by hanging include Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Hamid al-Bar, Mohamed Ibrahim al-Beltagy, Safwat Hegazy, and Osama Yassin.

The state-owned news agency MENA reported that the case involves 739 defendants, including former Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badie who was sentenced to life in jail.

In September 2018, a Cairo Criminal Court sentenced 75 to death for their involvement in a 2013 Rabaa sit-in protest. They face charges ranging from murder to damaging property.