In a retrial session on Saturday, the Giza Criminal Court upheld its verdicts against 12 defendants in the case of killing Major General Nabil Farrag. Seven defendants had been sentenced to life imprisonment, five defendants to 10 years in prison, and one was acquitted. The defendants were charged of deliberately killing Farrag and attempting to murder other police and army officers during a security raid in Giza's Kerdasa village in 2013. During the last court session, the court referred the documents of 13 defendants to the Grand Mufti, the country's highest official interpreter of Islamic law, for his opinion on their execution. The final ruling for all defendants was decided on 24 September. The prosecution previously accused the defendants of illegal possession of firearms and explosives, and of forming an illegal group. In August 2014, the Giza Criminal Court had sentenced 12 out of 23 case defendants to death, 10 to life imprisonment, and had acquitted one defendant. Thirteen defendants had filed an appeal to the Court of Cassation against the verdict of the Giza Criminal Court. Farrag died on duty in September 2013 when orders were given to storm Kerdasa, as the defendants had allegedly taken over the area a month after the dispersal of Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Al-Nahda sit-ins. He died instantly from a bullet to the chest during an exchange of fire with militants in the area.
