Death sentences in Kerdasa police station case revoked

The Appeal Court refuted on Wednesday 14 death sentences in the Kerdasa case and revoked a 10-year prison sentence for another defendant. The court also ordered a retrial.

The court set a condition that the defendants should be retailed in front of a different bench, other than the one that previously sentenced them.

The defendants are accused of storming the Kerdasa Police Station in Giza and killing several officers and intending to kill others.

The storming of the station took place after the military ouster of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Hundreds of defendants are being legally persecuted in Egyptian courts on charges of committing violence after Morsi was ousted.

In Kerdasa alone, another two cases are taking place for which the defendants also received harsh prison sentences and death sentences.

Violence escalated on 14 August 2013, shortly after security forces forcibly dispersed the Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Al-Nahda Squares sit-ins. Both sit-ins were organised to show support for Morsi.

A militant campaign targeting police and army has escalated since the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi on 3 July 2013. Police officers and soldiers have been killed in shootings and bombings in the Sinai Peninsula, Cairo, and the Nile Delta.

Source: Daily News Egypt