CAIRO – 5 September 2018: Giza Criminal Court sentenced four people to 14 years in prison over charges including deliberately murdering prominent Shia Muslim leader Hassan Shahata, and three other Shias in 2013.
The case is known in media as the “Shia strife.” The defendants carried Molotov cocktails, sticks and bladed weapons, and headed to the crime scene represented in Zawyet Abou Muslim village in Giza’s Abou al-Noumros where the four victims were.
According to investigations, the defendants surrounded the place and coerced the Shiites to come out. Subsequently, the defendants hit and stabbed the victims, which led to their death.
The defendants were referred to the criminal court in August 2014. In June 2015, the court sentenced 23 people in the lawsuit to 14 years in prison, while it acquitted eight others of murder charges.
Thousands of Shia Muslims reportedly inhabit Egypt, yet Egypt Today could not find an official statistic about the actual number of Shiites in the country. Strife between Shia Muslims and Sunni Muslims is not popular in Egypt.
Giza Criminal Court sentenced four people to 14 years in prison over charges including deliberately murdering prominent Shia Muslim leader Hassan Shahata, and three other Shias in 2013 – Press photo
Hassan Shahata was born in 1946 in Sharqiah governorate. He announced converting to Shia Islam when he was 50 years old. Shahata was arrested several times before he was killed in June 2013.
The incident took place during the presidential term of the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated former President Mohamed Morsi, who was ousted in July 2013.
Additional reporting by Amr Mohamed Kandil
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