'Returnees From Libya' retrial to resume Feb. 15

CAIRO – 13 January 2019: The retrial of 14 convicts in the lawsuit publicly known as "The Returnees from Libya will resume on February 15.

The first verdicts were delivered in 2016 as two were cleared, and the others got death and life sentences. The first session of the retrial was held on January 8 before Cairo Criminal Court as their appeal was allowed in October. The second session of the retrial took place on Saturday.

Sixteen men were arrested in Saloum Border Crossing with Libya. The arraignment includes affiliation with an outlawed group that calls for the suspension of the constitution and undermines state institutions, using terrorism to achieve those goals. The Public Prosecution referred them to the court in February 2015.

The defendants are also accused of providing funding for the outlawed group despite of their knowledge of its terrorist mechanisms, and of committing violence and terrorist attacks on foreign territories.

The evidence obtained in legal proceedings includes 1,326 bullets of different types, 17 firearm magazines, and six machine guns found in their headquarters in Al-Qanater, Greater Cairo.