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Egypt: Death sentences dropped against 2 charged with planning to kill army officers

November 30, 2018 at 1:16 pm

Egyptians can be seen behind prison bars, 20 February 2020 [Amr Sayed/Apaimages]

Egypt’s High Military Appeals Court accepted the petition filed by two defendants charged with membership in a cell that planned the assassination of army officers and politicians and committed other acts of violence and sabotage.

The court accepted Ahmad Amin Ghazali and Abdel Basir Abdel Mawla’s petition and set 4 December as the date for hearing the defence.

The case came to light in 2015 when the Egyptian defence ministry posted a YouTube video of suspects confessing to being members of a cell, the “Advanced Operations Committee”, that was involved in planning and carrying out assassinations of public figures and acts of violence against public facilities.

READ: Egypt death sentences ‘unfair’, ‘miscarriage of justice’ says UN

In the ministry’s video, suspects appear saying they had received training outside Egypt to prepare them for their activity in the “Advanced Operations Committee”.

But their lawyer, Mohammed Al-Baqir, said that the confessions were obtained under torture.

In May 2016, a military court sentenced six defendants in the case to death. In March 2018, the Higher Military Court of Appeals accepted appeals filed by four of them and their sentences were reduced to 15 years in prison. But the death sentences against Ghazali and Abdel Mawla were upheld.

READ: UN criticises Egypt death sentences in ‘flawed trials’