2 men detained on return from Libya last year sentenced to death

An Egyptian court sentenced two men arrested at the Salloum border crossing with Libya last year to death on Tuesday, convicting them of being members of an armed militant group.

Convening at Tora Police Academy, Cairo Criminal Court sentenced Ahmed Mohamed al-Sayed and Mahmoud Eid Ahmed Khalil to death by hanging in the popularly known “returnees from Libya” case.

Dating back to February 2015, the case includes 16 defendants in total. The presiding judge ordered that the two men be kept in police custody until November 5, when this court is due to issue its final verdict regarding all 16 defendants, according to video footage from the court.

The death sentences have been referred to Grand Mufti Shawky Allam for his opinion, which is standard procedure in Egypt, but not legally binding.

The charges filed by the prosecution against the defendants include: Affiliation with an outlawed group that attempts to obstruct the Constitution and functions of the state, use of terrorism to realize its objectives, and supplying group members with funding and arms.

Prosecutors also accused the defendants of involvement in terrorist activities outside Egypt, according to the privately owned Youm7 newspaper.

Egyptian Armed Forces conducted airstrikes on Libyan targets in February 2015, killing 64 alleged members of the Islamic State in response to the execution of 21 expatriate Egyptian Coptic Christians by Islamic State-affiliated groups in Libya. However a Human Rights Watch statement asserted that at least seven civilians were also killed in the attacks, including three children.

Sisi has repeatedly called for international efforts to counter terrorism in Libya, while the head of the Libyan National Army, Khalifa Haftar, says he has received significant support from the Egyptian military, despite his opposition to the UN-backed unity government.

In his recent speech at the United Nations headquarters in New York, Sisi raised concerns that conflict in Libya may increasingly affect other nations in the region, reasserting the need to deal with the crisis.