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Terror Convicts on Death Penalty Referred to Egypt Mufti

Confrontations between security forces and demonstrators during the 2013 Nahda sit-in. (AFP)
Confrontations between security forces and demonstrators during the 2013 Nahda sit-in. (AFP)
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Terror Convicts on Death Penalty Referred to Egypt Mufti

Confrontations between security forces and demonstrators during the 2013 Nahda sit-in. (AFP)
Confrontations between security forces and demonstrators during the 2013 Nahda sit-in. (AFP)

The Cairo criminal court referred to the grand mufti on Tuesday four detainees charged with forming a “terrorist cell.”

The mufti will examine their case and issue his non-binding opinion on whether a death sentence against them should be upheld.

Sentences against 30 other members of the “terrorist cell” will be announced on February 19. The charges against them include forming an illegal group, violating public property and the possession of weapons and ammunition for terrorist purposes.

Separately, the Giza criminal court sentenced to various prison terms 262 suspects for security-related offenses over the “al-Nahda sit-in” of 2013.

Seventeen people were sentenced to life in prison, 223 were given 15 years and another 22 accused were given three years.

The court acquitted 115 others accused in the case.

The court also ordered that those sentenced be fined a total of nearly 40 million Egyptian pounds ($2.27 million) for damaging public property.

The accused in the case were arrested while authorities were dispersing a rally held in the aftermath of the ouster of former President Mohammed Morsi in 2013. Their trial has taken up three years, while some other detainees are waiting appeals of their sentences.

Charges against them include murder, resisting authorities and possession of arms.

Earlier on Tuesday, Egypt’s Interior Ministry announced that eight terrorists were killed during a security raid in the al-Arish region.

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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.