Egypt court asks Grand Mufti for opinion on terror case sentences

Shawki Ibrahim Allam, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, will be asked for a non-binding opinion on the case. (AFP/File photo)

• Cairo Criminal Court said defendants are members of a local affiliate of the Daesh group
• Grand Mufti will be asked for a non-binding opinion on whether they can be executed as the prosecution seeks

CAIRO: An Egyptian court has referred the case of seven defendants facing terrorism charges to the country’s top religious authority, the Grand Mufti, for a non-binding opinion on whether they can be executed as the prosecution seeks.
The Cairo Criminal Court said Saturday the defendants are members of a local affiliate of the Daesh group spearheading an insurgency in northern Sinai.
The men are part of 32 defendants accused of killing eight police, including an officer, when they ambushed a microbus in Cairo’s southern suburb of Helwan in May 2016.
The verdict is set for Nov. 12, and the presiding judge may rule independently of the Mufti.
Egypt has battled an insurgency for years in the Sinai Peninsula that has occasionally spilled over to the mainland.