Egypt jails 4-year-old for life

A four-year-old is among 116 Egyptian who were sentenced to life in prison in absentia on Tuesday.

The defendants were charged with murder, destruction of property and inciting riots and demonstrations on 3 January 2014, when the child would have been only one and a half years old.

According to defence attorneys, the military court refused to accept documents which proved Ahmed Mansour Qarni’s age.

Lawyer Ramadan Farhat said Qarni was born in September 2012. He said he provided Qarni’s birth certificate to the court but it ignored the document and issued the verdict anyway.

Many believe this cases raises serious concerns about the disregard for human life in the dysfunctional judicial system.

According to Amnesty International, 100,000 Egyptians from the opposition have been jailed during the past year alone.