On 21 June 2020, the Cairo Criminal Court sentenced 16 people for links with the terrorist Al-Nusra group in Syria. The court sentenced 13 defendants to life in prison, and three others to 15 years on charges of joining Al-Nusra Front and participating in its operations. According to investigations published by Youm7, two defendants joined Al-Nusra Front in Syria between 2011 and 2014, received military training there and carried out attacks against non-Egyptian targets.
Previously, the Egyptian State Security Prosecution referred the 16 defendants to trial on charges of leading a terrorist group aimed at obstructing the constitution and the law, assaulting personal freedoms, attacking the Egyptian armed forces and police, targeting public facilities, and harming national unity by joining a group affiliated with the Al-Qaeda terrorist organisation.
Investigations allegedly revealed that the defendants also called for killing Christians and seizing their money, as well as seizing civilian private properties with the aim of disturbing public order and endangering the safety and security of society.
Earlier in June 2020, Cairo Criminal Court also sentenced three out of 11 defendants, accused of attempting to assassinate Alexandria’s security director in 2018, to death. The other eight defendants were handed life imprisonment sentences (25 years in prison) and there names were added to the Egypt’s terrorism list.