Lengthy prison sentences issued in retrial of Kerdasa Police Station case

A court handed lengthy prison terms to defendants in the retrial of a case relating to the 2013 storming of a police station on Thursday.

Three defendants were sentenced to life in prison by the Cairo Criminal Court, while five others were sentenced to 15 years in a maximum security prison, four were sentenced to 10 years in a maximum security prison and one juvenile was sentenced to seven years in prison. With the exception of the juvenile, all defendants had previously been issued death sentences. 

The court also ordered that all the adult defendants be put on five years probation after the completion of their sentence. The verdict issued in the retrial can be appealed once more before the Court of Cassation, which may accept the sentences or overturn them and review the case itself before issuing a final verdict.

The defendants face charges relating to the storming of the Kerdasa Police Station on July 3, 2013, on the night former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was ousted.

In June, 2014, the prosecution referred 23 people to trial on accusations of illegal assembly, intentionally destroying and damaging public and private property, influencing public employees, the murder of Police Major General Hany Mahmoud Ibrahim, the attempted murder of others, using force and violence against police officers and possession of unlicensed arms and ammunition.

Twenty-two were sentenced to death in the Giza Criminal Court’s initial verdict in April 2015, eight in absentia, while the juvenile was handed a 10-year sentence.

According to media reports, the Court of Cassation accepted appeals against 14 of the death penalties and the juvenile’s prison sentence in October 2016, ordering a retrial, which was brought before the Cairo Criminal Court on December 13, 2017.