A criminal court in the Egyptian capital Cairo has recommended the death penalty for 31 people who are convicted of being involved in the assassination of Egypt’s top prosecutor.
Public prosecutor Hisham Barakat was killed in a car bomb attack on his convoy in Cairo in 2015. Egyptian authorities blame the Muslim Brotherhood and Gaza-based Hamas militants for the attack- though both groups have denied.
Only half of the defendants accused of his murder are in custody and the other 15 are on the run. The defendants were convicted of premeditated murder, association with a terrorist organization and being in possession of weapons and explosives.
The court will read out the final verdict on July 22. The matter has been referred to Grand Mufti, the country’s highest Islamic official who will give the religious judgment of all preliminary death sentences. The Mufti’s opinion is non-binding as it is usually considered a formality.
Barakat died of his injuries after a car-bomb attack in Cairo on June 29, 2015. The car bomb struck his convoy as it was leaving his home in Cairo.
Some 67 defendants were charged in the case.
A little-known group calling itself “the Giza Popular Resistance” claimed responsibility of the attack.
Before the attack, the Islamic State affiliate group in Sinai, known then as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis urged followers to attack judges.
Barakat was appointed as chief prosecutor following the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
