An Egyptian court handed 37 people a death sentence including one of the country’s high-ranking ISIS leader, on terrorism-related charges.
The Cairo Criminal Court on Monday, 2nd March 2020 charged 37 on terrorism atrocities linked to the local ISIS affiliated armed group operating in Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula.
Those handed the death sentence were among more than 200 defendants linked to orchestrating more than 50 attacks that included killing high-ranking police officers and bombings that targeted the Egyptian capital’s police headquarters. The charges include a 2013 assassination attempt on the Egyptian interior minister.
Notable figure in the death sentence was Hisham el-Ashmawi, a former army officer who was captured in Libya in late 2018 by forces loyal to Libyan renegade commander Khalifa Haftar, a close ally of Egypt.
A military court had separately sentenced el-Ashmawi to death in November for his participation in various attacks that targeted government personnel and installations.
For years, Egypt has been taking on armed fighters in the restive northern Sinai area and the vast Western Desert. The Egyptian court also sentenced 61 defendants to life in prison and 85 others got sentences ranging from five to 15 years. Monday’s verdict can be appealed before a higher court.
For years, Egypt’s security forces considered el-Ashmawi one of the country’s most wanted fighters for his intelligence value. Hisham el-Ashmawi, who is in his 40s has been linked to several major attacks, including devastating attacks on security forces near Egypt’s volatile desert border with Libya.
