Egypt: Two defendants sentenced to five years in murder of Shia preacher Hassan Shehata

The Second Terrorism Circuit of the Cairo Criminal Court on Wednesday sentenced two defendants to five years in prison in a retrial in the case of the murder of the Shia preacher, the martyr Sheikh Hassan Shehata, Egyptian media outlets reported.

The media outlets added that “the verdict was issued by Presiding Judge Hamada El-Sawy, with the membership of Judges Mohamed Omran and Ra’fat Zaki, Dr. Ali Omran, and the secretarial assistant, Sayed Hajjaj.”

“The defendants had previously been sentenced in absentia to five years in prison, and after their arrest, the proceedings of their trial were re-initiated,” they said.

On June 13, 2015, the Giza Criminal Court sentenced 23 defendants to 14 years in prison, and acquitted eight others, who were being tried in the case of the murder of the Shia leader Hassan Shehata, three of his followers, and the attempted murder of 13 others.

The South Giza Accidents Prosecution, headed by Counselor Osama Hanfi, charged the defendants with committing crimes of gathering with the intention of premeditated murder of Sheikh Hassan Mohamed Shaata, one of the leaders of the Shia sect in Egypt, and three others of his sons and followers.