Cairo Criminal Court sentenced 26 suspects on Wednesday to prison in the case known as ‘Nasr City terrorist cell.’
Some of the defendants were sentenced to life, while others were sentenced to seven years of hard labor in prison.
The defendants were accused of planning terrorist attacks, targeting ships and oil vessels at Suez Canal as well as police, armed forces establishments, citizens, Copts and their places of worship.
The case includes 18 detained defendants and eight fugitives, all charged with illegally forming a group with extremist ideas that encourages violent opposition to state institutions and public authorities, which it considers 'infidels.' They are also charged with possessing unlicensed firearms and ammunition, attacking the personal freedom of citizens and harming national unity and social peace.
They were simultaneously arrested in several places while preparing for terrorist operations during Eid al-Adha of last year. One such place was in Nasr City where group member Karim Badawy was killed in an exchange of fire that ignited the explosives that were hidden there.
Edited translation from MENA
