Two policemen shot dead in Minya

Two policemen were killed in Minya on Monday by unidentified gunmen on their way home, state-owned Al-Ahram reported.

Mohamed Ali Mahfouz, a 35-year-old police sergeant and Ahmed Farouk, a 36-year-old police officer, were returning home on a motorcycle from the police station when they were shot by unknown assailants. 

Minya witnessed a wave of violence this past August against its mostly-Coptic residents in the aftermath of the sit-in dispersals at Rabea el-Adaweya and Nahda Squares, where Muslim Brotherhood supporters were demanding the reinstatement of deposed President Mohamed Morsi. The Interior Ministry blamed the attacks on Brotherhood members and supporters.

On May 12, the main suspect accused of burning churches in the southern village of Delga, Minya was arrested. Egypt’s prosecutor general had previously ordered the detention of 72 defendants for committing violent, terrorist acts in Delga, pending investigations.

A Minya court has also handed down a preliminary and highly controversial death sentence to hundreds of Brotherhood members accused of storming a police station and killing one policeman.

The judge sentenced 37 alleged Muslim Brotherhood members to death and handed down life sentences to another 491, in a case accusing them of storming a police station and killing one policeman. On the same day, 683 alleged Muslim Brotherhood supporters were sentenced to death in another case where defendants face similar charges. The case has been sent to the Grand Mufti for his procedural opinion. 

The prosecution is currently reviewing the ruling, a normal practice following any death penalty verdict, officials said.