Juvenile Court hands 15-year imprisonment for killing teen in Menoufia

CAIRO – 22 December 2019: A juvenile criminal court in Egypt’s northern country of Menoufia handed 15-year imprisonment, the maximum sentence for juveniles in Egypt, to three defendants accused of killing a teenager, including Mohamed Rageh, the main defendant in the case.

A fourth defendant was sentenced to five years in prison in the case that took place in October.

The savage murder partially spotted by surveillance cameras has triggered widespread public anger, as people called for executing Raheh, before official documents revealed that he is still a juvenile.

"No accused person would be sentenced to death, life imprisonment, or forced labor if, at the time of committing the crime, he did not reach the age of 18 years," reads Article 111 of the Child Law of 2008.

During the previous hearing, the court watched video evidence for footages showing the attack on Mahmoud El-Banna, the victim, by four young men, including Rageh. The CCTV video supported the eye-witnesses' testimonies about the incident, as it showed Banna being chased by the other teens near his house.

A forensic doctor gave his testimonies about the death of Banna, explaining that the stab El-Banna took in the left thigh resulted in bleeding as it hit the sciatic artery, which leads to death in less than 20 minutes.

The accident took place when a group of teens harassed a girl in the street in Tala village in Menoufia governorate; the act stirred El-Banna’s anger, pushing him to interfere to defend the girl and condemn the boys. Later, El-Banna felt triggered to make a statement about the incident on his Facebook account, although he did not mention the boys’ names, describing the sexual harassment acts as “not manly."

Night fell on a different village after Rageh induced Banna into a fight; he grabbed him while the second defendant puffed a burning material in his face. El-Banna’s friends heard his screams, and managed to rescue him, but he was chased back all the way to his home. The third defendant threatened El-Banna with a knife, while Rageh injured him in his cheeks and then stabbed him in his left thigh.