Giza Criminal Court has referred the death sentences of 13 Agnad Masr terrrorists to the Grand Mufti for approval following their conviction on terrorism-related charges, including killing policemen. The court issued the order on Sunday, setting a date of 7 December for handing down the final verdicts in the case. Referral to the Grand Mufti is a necessary procedure before issuing a death sentence, according to Egyptian law, though the religious opinion of the Mufti is non-binding. The 13 men are among 44 defendants charged with killing six policemen in several militant attacks in Giza in 2014. The defendants were also charged with joining an outlawed group, possessing firearms and attempting to murder police personnel through attacks on checkpoints and police institutions. Agnad Misr is a small Islamist militant group designated by the government as a terrorist group in 2014. It has claimed several deadly attacks against security personnel, mostly in the Egyptian capital, since the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood.
