The military court in eastern Cairo on Wednesday sentenced five people to death in connection with Case No. 1 of 2021, known in the media as the “Al-Haram Apartment Cell”.
The death sentences have been sent to the Grand Mufti of Egypt for ratification.
According to Egyptian media reports, the defendants have all been sentenced in absentia. They are: Muhammad Hamdi, Marwan Sedky, Muhammad Saeed, Muhammad Bashandi, and Amr Saber. The next session has been scheduled for September 14 to pronounce the verdict.
The Military Prosecution had issued an official decision to refer the defendants to the Military Court on charges of manufacturing explosive materials and joining a group founded in violation of the law.
UN bodies have repeatedly called on Egypt to stop referring defendants to exceptional courts (military and emergency state security), and to present them to their natural judge, due to the lack of internationally recognized fair trial standards in these courts.
