Mar Mina church

EGYPT: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER CHURCH ATTACK

May 13, 2019:

An Egyptian court on 12 May 2019 sentenced two men to death and eight others to between three years and life in prison over an attack on a church and Christian-owned shop in Cairo that killed 10 people.
A gunman opened fire in December 2017 on Christians in a shop in the southern Cairo suburb of Helwan, killing two people, before firing on the entrance to the nearby Mar Mina church, where he killed seven Christian worshippers and a policeman.
The emergency state security court sentenced the main suspect, who is in custody, and another suspect, who is on the run, to death.
Two defendants were handed life sentences, four were given four years in prison and two were handed three years in jail. One suspect was acquitted and two others are still at large.
The authorities had said the gunman was wounded by security forces during the attack. Islamic State claimed responsibility.
The main suspect appeared in court on 12 May wearing death row prison clothes, having also been handed two death sentences in military trials after being convicted of attacking military buildings.
The main suspect embraced the other defendants in the court after the verdict.
Under Egypt's state of emergency law, the defendants can appeal to have the sentence by the security court reduced.