Egypt: Sentences upheld against 278 people accused of terror charges

The Egyptian military court of appeals has upheld the life sentences and hard labour for 254 Egyptians and commuted the sentences of 24 who have been accused of joining the terror groups Hasm and Lewa El Thawra.

The ruling means that their sentences can no longer be appealed, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

The defendants in the Hasm case were accused of taking part in the assassination of Captain Ibrahim Azazi Sharif in 2017, an attack on a police car on Fayoum road and an attack on a security checkpoint in Nasr City.

Charges against defendants in the Lewa El Thawra case include incitement to violence, possession of weapons and explosives, murder and attempted murder.

The defendants have been subjected to grave human rights violations, according to the Egyptian Front for Human Rights (EFHR), including enforced disappearance, torture and the refusal to allow them a lawyer during interrogations.

They were held in dire conditions after they were detained in 2017.

Egypt has consistently sentenced people, including to death, after mass trials which violate due process rights and in which there is no opportunity for evidence to be heard against individuals.

Human rights groups have spoken out about the use of military trials against civilians and how they have contributed towards the lack of due process.

Prisoners in Egypt are subjected to widespread violations including inadequate access to healthcare and lack of basic rights such as visitation and exercise.

Source » middleeastmonitor