Court orders retrial of Warraq cell defendants

CAIRO – 10 April 2018: The Court of Cassation accepted on Tuesday the appeals against sentences imposed on five defendants in the case publicly known as the “Warraq [terrorist] cell case”, ordering the retrial of the defendants before another criminal court.

The defendants had faced various sentences, including the death penalty, life imprisonment and five years in prison.

The prosecution recommended cancelling the death and life sentences for the defendants in the case, Alaa Alam Al-Din, lawyer of the defendants, told Al-Bawaba Tuesday morning.

In February 2017, the Giza Criminal Court had sentenced two defendants to death and two others to life imprisonment on charges of killing two persons, including a police officer.

Four other defendants were sentenced to five years in prison, while one was acquitted of all charges.

The defendants were convicted of various crimes, including targeting public institutions, joining an outlawed group, possessing explosives and unlicensed arms, and killing police officers and civilians.

In March, the Giza Criminal Court upheld the death sentences of 10 defendants in the case publicly known as the “Imbaba terrorist cell case” after the court’s January verdict was approved by the Grand Mufti.

The court also handed down life sentences to another four defendants, as well as in absentia to a defendant who had fled, while the court sentence for another defendant was suspended because of his death.

The Cairo Criminal Court sentenced 21 people to death in February after convicting them of belonging to a terrorist cell known as the “Damietta cell”. The court also sentenced four other people to 25 years in prison in the same case, while three others were given 15-year jail terms.