Egyprian court sentences 20 to death for police killings

Cairo, April 24 (IANS/AKI) An Cairo court on Monday upheld 20 death sentences against suspected Islamists over the killings of 12 policemen in an attack on a police station near Giza in August 2013, reports said.

The Cairo criminal court will issue it final verdict against the suspects on June 2 following a ruling from the country's Grand Mufti, the country's highest Islamic authority, the daily Al-Ahram reported on its website.

The defendants are alleged to have attacked a police station in Kerdasa, close to the pyramids at Giza, in the aftermath of the army's overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi .

The 12 police officers were among 15 people killed in the attack, during which the suspects allegedly mutilated the policemen's bodies as well as those of two civilians, tried to kill 10 other policemen and wrecked the police station, Al-Ahram said.

A criminal court in February 2015 issued a death sentence against 183 people found guilty of
involvement in the attack, 34 of whom were tried in absentia.

A total of 149 defendants appealed the death sentence and are currently undergoing retrials.

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