Egyptian court recommends death penalty for 30

An Egyptian court has recommended the death sentence for 30 defendants convicted of involvement in the assassination of the country's top prosecutor two years ago.

The Cairo Criminal Court, in a preliminary judgment, gave death penalty to the suspected criminals involved in the assassination of Egypt's Public Prosecutor Hisham Barakat in a bomb attack in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis in late June 2015.

Barakat, whose convoy had been targeted by assailants, died of organ failure caused by his severe wounds in a hospital several hours after the assault.

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• Egypt state prosecutor dies after bombing

Later on, Egyptian authorities detained 67 people suspected to be involved in the assassination, the most senior Egyptian state official killed by militants in recent years.

In March last year, Egyptian Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar alleged that both Egypt’s now-banned Muslim Brotherhood movement and Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas, in a coordinated move, were involved in the assassination, an accusation that drew strong denial from Hamas.

“Hamas calls on all parties in Egypt not to involve Palestinian factions in their internal differences,” said Hamas Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri at the time.

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In response to the accusations, the Muslim Brotherhood also dismissed the accusations.

On Saturday, however, Judge Hassan Farid reiterated the same allegations against the Brotherhood and Hamas without mentioning their names, saying, "The brutal conspiracy by hired hands to target the public prosecutor Hisham Barakat and assassinate him, where the corrupt and weak-willed forces of evil and tyranny conspired, could only be carried out by an unjust group that has shed innocent blood."

Only half of the defendants are currently in custody, with the remaining 15 on the run. The court set a verdict session for July 22 to hand down its final verdict to the 30 convicts as well as 37 other defendants in the case. The July 22 verdict can be appealed.

The court also announced that it was waiting for a non-binding legally-required opinion on the preliminary death sentences to be issued by Egypt's Grand Mufti Shawki Allam, who must review all death sentences according to the country's penal code.

There have been no credible claims of responsibility for the bombing that killed the 64-year-old state prosecutor outside his house. Barakat was reportedly responsible for thousands of controversial prosecutions, including a number of death sentences against Brotherhood members and supporters of ousted President Mohammad Morsi.

The assassination of Barakat was widely mourned and condemned across the North African country. In early July 2015, Egypt's public prosecution slapped a gag order, preventing media outlets from reporting updates on the investigation of the case.

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