File: Egyptian policemen stand guard at the site of a June 29, 2015 bombing in Cairo that killed Egypt’s top prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, who oversaw cases against thousands of Islamists. (AP/Eman Helal, File)
CAIRO, Egypt — An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced 28 people to death for involvement in the killing of a top prosecutor two years ago, security and judicial officials said.
Hisham Barakat was killed in 2015 when a car bomb struck his convoy in Cairo after jihadist calls for attacks on the judiciary to avenge a crackdown on Islamists.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but police later said they had arrested the perpetrators, charging they were members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
The court also sentenced 15 defendants to life in prison in the same case, while a further eight received 15 years, and 15 others were handed 10 years, the officials said.
Egypt’s prosecutor general, Hisham Barakat (YouTube screenshot/teleSUR English)
The death sentences have already been approved by the mufti, Egypt’s official interpreter of Islamic law, whose opinion is legally required but not binding.
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Egypt has struggled to quell a jihadist insurgency since the military overthrew Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and cracked down on his Islamist supporters.
Egyptian courts have sentenced hundreds of Morsi supporters to death since his overthrow, but many have appealed and won new trials.
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Morsi and other top figures of his Muslim Brotherhood have also faced trial.
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