Egypt's military court on Monday handed down a death sentence to one individual and life imprisonment sentences to four others over their involvement in a 2015 attack on the Embassy of Niger in Cairo. It also handed ten- and five-year prison terms to 12 and five defendants in the case, respectively. The court also acquitted eight defendants, who can appeal the sentences. The case dates back to July 2015, when gunmen opened fire at security forces outside the Embassy of Niger on Haram Street in Giza, killing a police conscript and injuring two low-ranking policemen as well as a embassy employee. According to investigations conducted by the High State Security Prosecution, the defendants attacked the embassy to publicly declare the presence of the Daesh terrorist organization in the Egyptian capital, with the prosecution adding that the defendants have confessed to pledging allegiance to Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. They have also confessed to establishing a terroist cell aimed at carrying out attacks in the country, as well as targeting police forces and shops owned by Egyptian Coptic Christians.
