5 sentenced to death in Kerdasa case

Giza Criminal Court sentenced five people to death on Monday evening for storming Kerdasa Police Station and killing the sheriff, his deputy and 12 others in August 2013.

The court was headed by Judge Mohamed Nagy Shehata, who previously sentenced 183 people to death — 149 present and 34 in absentia — for their involvement in what has become known as the “Kerdasa massacre” on February 2, 2013.

The state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper reported that the defendants have appealed the verdict, but a date for a retrial is yet to be set.

Al-Ahram added that the defendants were among those sentenced to death in absentia in the original trial, but they weren’t arrested until recently. After their apprehension, they were given a retrial, which resulted in Monday’s death penalties.

The defendants were convicted of breaking into Kerdasa police station with RPG missiles, firearms and Molotov cocktails. They then allegedly stole weapons, killed 14 people, including the sheriff, his deputy, police officers, passers by and soldiers, then mutilated their bodies. They have been accused of affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups.

The incident occurred in the same month as the violent dispersal of the Brotherhood-associated protests in Rabea al-Adaweya and Nahda squares against the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi. The dispersal and ensuing crackdown led to the deaths of over 1,000 people, mostly in Rabea al-Adaweya.

Shehata is known for handing down harsh sentences against defendants associated with the Muslim brotherhood, as well as secular opposition figures. In 2014 and 2015, he sentenced 22 to people to death for their alleged storming of Kerdasa police station and the killing of a police officer in a separate incident in July 2013.

Shehata also sentenced the Muslim Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and 13 others to death on April 11, and 37 others to life in prison, including Mohamed Soltan, an activist who has been on hunger strike for over 460 days, in what has become known as the “Rabea Operations Room” case.

Also sentenced by Shehata is prominent activist Ahmed Douma, along with 37 others who were given life in prison in the “Cabinet clashes” case.