By Nader Shukry —
Cairo Criminal Court’s terrorism circuit decided on 12 August 2024 to refer to the Mufti the file of the case of two men the court had decided to sentence to death for bombing the Protestant church of al-Niema, literally Grace, in the Cairo northeast suburb of al-Marg in 2023.
In Egypt, a death sentence can only be final if it is approved by the Mufti, the religious official assigned with issuing fatwa, an Islamic legal opinion.
The court said it would issue its final sentence on 10 October 2024, upon receiving the Mufti’s fatwa on the death sentence. But the defendants may appeal the case before a higher court.
The two men charged are among 14 defendants in the case, among them eight women. They had belonged to a terrorist group arrested in 2023. The police found in their possession documents and instruments that proved they had plans to bomb the church. The case became known in the media as the “case of bombing al-Niema church”.
The Public Prosecution charged the defendants with joining a terrorist group established against the law and Constitution. The group aimed at disrupting public order, imperilling society’s security, curbing constitutional and legal rules, preventing State institutions and public authorities from carrying out their duties, assaulting the personal freedoms of citizens, their public liberties and rights, and impairing national unity. — Watani International
