Verdict in attorney general’s assassination case due June 17

CAIRO – 10 June 2017: The trial of 67 defendants accused of involvement in the assassination of former Attorney General Hisham Barakat was adjourned to June 17 by the Cairo Criminal Court on Saturday. Fifty-one of the defendants are currently in custody.

Security services tightened procedures around the court before the sentencing hearing.

The defendants are facing other charges, most notably association with Palestinian militant group Hamas and aiming to foment instability in the country, as well as illegal possession of firearms.

On May 14, the Court set the June 10 session to issue its verdict in the case.

Barakat was assassinated on June 29, 2015 when a car bomb detonating in his car outside his home in Cairo’s Heliopolis neighborhood.