Egypt Overturns Death Sentence Of 149 Protesters

An Egyptian court on Wednesday overturned the death sentence against 149 people charged with lynching of 11 police officers, a report said.

The accused were charge in August 2013 after the army’s removal of President Mohammed Morsi.

Following an appeal, the defendants, who received the verdict in May 2015, would stand retrial before a different court, the report added.

In the same development, 34 others who were not in custody could not legally be granted a retrial as they were sentenced to death in absentia.

The 183 individuals, mainly supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood group aligned with Morsi, had been found guilty of an attack on a police station on the western outskirts of Cairo.
A widely seen video from the scene at the Kerdassa police station in Giza province showed dead and injured police officers sitting lined up against a wall as they were abused by a crowd.

Only one of the station’s staff survived, two civilians caught up in the attack were also killed
The lynching took place hours after police broke up the Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in in eastern Cairo, more than 800 protesters were killed in the operation, according to a death toll compiled by Human Rights Watch. (dpa/NAN)

CREDIT: LEADERSHIP NEWSPAPER