Egypt Court abandons Death Sentence for Sinai Militant Habara

An Egyptian court of cassation revoked on Saturday the death sentence for North Sinai Islamist militant Adel Habara and six others in the case known as “Rafah’s second massacre, “ordering a retrial.

In December, Cairo Criminal Court issued death sentences against Habara and six others for carrying out an execution-style killing of 25 policemen in an ambush in Sinai in August 2013.

The court also revoked the sentences of three other defendants in the case to life in prison, and the sentences of 22 defendants to 15 years in prison.

In May 2015, Habara was also sentenced to death in a separate case on charges of possessing ammunition, explosives and targeting police and army personnel.

Habara and the other defendants were all arrested in Egypt’s Sharqiya governorate, northeast of Cairo, in September 2013 while possessing ammunition and explosive devices.

Egypt’s army is currently fighting a campaign against a decade-long militant insurgency in North Sinai.

Militants have killed hundreds of police and army personnel in the past year and a half in North Sinai, while the authorities have announced that hundreds of militants have been killed in military campaigns in the governorate.

The Islamist group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis has claimed responsibility for most attacks against security forces in Sinai.

Source: Ahram Online