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Court upholds death penalty for Islamist who threw children off roof Another 61 defendants received verdicts ranging from life sentences to 10 years in prison
Alexandria's criminal court upheld on Monday an earlier verdict sentencing an Islamist to death for throwing children off a roof in the coastal city last July, two days after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. In March, the court sentenced to death Mahmoud Hassan Abdel-Naby, whose verdict was confirmed on Monday, along with Abdullah El-Ahmady on charges of manslaughter, thuggery, violence, illegal possession of weapons and disturbing public order. The defendant's papers have been sent to the office of the Grand Mufti, the country's official authority for issuing religious edicts, who must review all death sentences as per Egyptian law. The verdict against El-Ahmady was changed to a life sentence after his papers were sent to the Grand Mufti. The convicts were arrested last July after a video showing them throwing children from the rooftop of a building in Alexandria's district of Sidi Gaber went viral. The footage showed one of the defendants, with a long beard and holding a black flag associated with Al-Qaeda, stabbing a child and throwing him off the rooftop of the building. Also standing trial are another 60 defendants – allegedly Muslim Brotherhood members – accused of violent behaviour and thuggery in Sidi Gaber on 5 July 2013. They received verdicts ranging from life sentences to 10 years in prison. Morsi's ouster was followed by nationwide violence that saw clashes between his supporters, opponents and the police. Violence intensified in mid-August after the deadly dispersal of two main pro-Morsi protest camps, in Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Nahda squares in Cairo and Giza respectively. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/101703.aspx
