Egypt: Libyan defendant gets death for 2017 attack

CAIRO

The Egyptian military court sentenced a Libyan defendant to death in a case over a deadly terrorist attack at the Al-Wahat highway in 2017, an army spokesman said on Sunday.

The court ordered death sentence for Abdelreheem Mohamed al-Mesmary, the Egyptian army spokesperson Tamer al-Rifai said in a written statement.

The court also ruled life imprisonment for 32 defendants, including 10 fugitives and 22 behind bars.

The military prosecutor's office, in the statement, accused the defendants of establishing an illegal organization called al-Fatah, killing 11 police officers, taking some hostages, seizing their weapons and ammunition.

A total of 20 defendants were acquitted in the case.

The court sent the file of the Libyan defendant, who was sentenced to death on Oct. 13, to the office of the country's mufti.

According to the Egyptian law, the defendant has the right to appeal the court rule within 60 days.

On Oct. 20, 2017 militants, who had previously announced their allegiance to Daesh/ISIS, ambushed a police convoy in the al-Wahat al-Bahriya area in the Giza province, about 135 kilometers (84 miles) from Cairo. The attack left 11 police officers and five soldiers dead.

*Writing by Dilara Hamit in Ankara