Egypt: 76 convicted for last year’s attack on Israeli Embassy

Virtually all defendants receive suspended sentences; charges include ‘assault against diplomatic missions’ and ‘sabotage’

26 August 2012, 6:30 pm

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Egyptian protesters demolish a concrete wall protecting the Israeli embassy in Cairo, September 9, 2011. ( AP/Amr Nabil)

CAIRO (AP) — A Cairo court has convicted 76 Egyptians on charges linked to last year’s attack by protesters on the Israeli Embassy.

Seventy-five of the defendants received suspended one-year sentences Sunday, while one defendant tried in absentia was given a five-year prison term.

The court listed eight charges, including “an assault against diplomatic missions” and “sabotage.”

In September, thousands of protesters tore down a security wall around a high rise building housing the Israeli Embassy in Cairo and then ransacked its offices. The embassy’s storming followed the killing of six Egyptian soldiers by Israeli troops who were pursuing Palestinian militants near the Egyptian border.

The attack prompted nearly the entire embassy staff to evacuate in the one of the worst crises to hit the two countries’ relations since their 1979 peace treaty.