Eight sentenced to death over Cairo attack

AFP
In this file photo, Egyptian policemen stand guard in front of the courtroom defendant's cage during a verdict hearing on a case that stems from clashes near the Muslim Brotherhood's headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, on June 30, 2013. (AP)

CAIRO: An Egyptian court has sentenced eight people to death for allegedly killing three officers during the storming of a Cairo police station in 2013, a judicial official said.
The court also handed life sentences to 50 other defendants, the official said, and jail terms of between five and 10 years to 10 more.
The incident at the center of the trial took place on Aug. 14, 2013 as security forces violently dispersed two protest camps in Cairo, in an operation following the military’s ouster of former president Mohamed Mursi that left more than 700 people dead.
Prosecutors said the defendants marched on Helwan police station in a southern suburb of Cairo and fired at police inside from behind barricades, killing three and wounding scores.
They were then alleged to have torched the building and 20 police vehicles parked nearby.
The verdicts — which can be appealed — also saw defendants ordered to pay some 2.8 million pounds ($160,000) in damages for destroyed property and as compensation to the Interior Ministry.
Egyptian courts have sentenced hundreds of Mursi supporters to death since his overthrow, but many have appealed and won new trials.
Mursi and other top figures of his Muslim Brotherhood have also faced trial.