Qaradawi among 8 defendants handed death sentences

An Egyptian military court on Sunday issued preliminary death sentenced against eight defendants on a charge of murdering a senior police officer in Cairo in 2015, the court said in a statement.

The court referred the eight defendants to the Grand Mufti, the country’s top religious authority, for his opinion on the sentences. The Mufti is usually consulted before death sentences become final. His opinion is, however, not binding.

Defendants in the case include prominent Islamic scholar Yusef Al-Qaradawi, who heads the International Union for Muslim Scholars, as well as senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The case includes 52 defendants, eight of whom were handed down preliminary death sentences.

Qatar: We will not extradite Al-Qaradawi

Wael Tahoun, the head of the notorious police station of Matariya in Cairo, was assassinated in 2015. Human rights organisations and activists said that detainees were tortured to death in the police facility he supervised. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, commonly known as EIPR, described the police station as a “slaughterhouse.”

The court accused the defendants of membership in an outlawed group, in reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as seeking to obstruct the operation of state institutions and violation of citizens’ rights.

The military court set 17th January for issuing a final ruling in the case.

Since the 2013 military coup that ousted President Mohamed Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptian authorities have accused the group of terrorism and launched an unprecedented crackdown on its members and sympathisers, drawing criticism from local and international human rights groups.

The Brotherhood has repeatedly denied the Egyptian government’s accusations, stressing that it adheres to peaceful protest in its opposition to the coup.

Read: Egypt military court asks Grand Mufti about civilian hangings