The Military Criminal Court on Sunday referred Libyan terrorist Abdel Rahem Mohammed al-Mesmary’s case to Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawky Allam, to gather his religious opinion on executing Mesmary for his involvement in the “Al-Wahat Incident”, which left 16 police officers dead.
The prosecution referred Mesmary and 41 other defendants to the Military Criminal Court after they killed 16 security personnel and left 13 others injured in 2017 in the al-Wahat al-Bahariya road.
The court set November 3 as a date for judgement on the 42 defendants in the case.
Investigations stated that the main defendant in the incident is Mesmary, a Libyan who received training from dead Egyptian terrorist Emad al-Din Ahmed to participate in terrorist operations against the police officers in al-Wahat al-Bahariya and the kidnapping of Captain Mohammed al-Haies.
Investigations revealed that Mesmary was trained to use machine guns and make bombs in camps inside the Libyan territories. He also established a training camp in the al-Wahat desert area joining several terrorists to carry out operations against the churches and state institutions.
The “Al-Wahat Incident” dates back to October 2017 when a police convoy came under attack by militants using rocket-propelled grenades and explosive devices.
Police forces discovered their hideout, leading to an exchange of fire initiated by the militants.
The raid took place after the police national security unit was informed of the hideout located in the Bahariya Oasis, a large area of 135 square kilometers, approximately 370 km from the capital.
Egypt’s security forces have been waging a war over the past five years against an Islamist militant insurgency, mostly in North Sinai, that has seen hundreds killed on both sides.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
