Cairo Criminal Court sentenced Saturday seven members of what is known in the media as the “Libya terrorist cell” to death on a number of terror-related charges. The court's final verdict came following referral last September to the country's Grand Mufti for a consultative non-binding opinion, as per Egypt's penal code. The court also ordered life sentences for 10 other defendants, and 15 years for three defendants in the case. The defendants are charged with joining a terrorist cell in Egypt's governorate of Marsa Matrouh affiliated with the Daesh militant group in Libya. The defendants are also charged with joining training camps of the terrorist group in Syria and Libya, and obtaining military training, as well as planning terrorist acts in Egypt. According to the court order, the defendants committed their alleged crimes between 2012 and 2016 in Matrouh, Cairo and Alexandria governorates. The defendants were also charged with participating in the beheading of 21 Egyptians in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte claimed by Daesh in February 2015. The defendants were arrested in Hamam City in Matrouh governorate in 2015 and accused of conducting attacks on a police station and vital establishments in the city. In November 2016, the case was referred to court, after the State Security Prosecution revealed the defendants were also involved in attacks on Christians in their governorate, as well as hiding and training seven German citizens who were planning to join Daesh in Libya.
