An Egyptian court has sentenced six people to death on terror-related charges for carrying out a militant attack outside a tourist hotel in Giza governorate in 2016.
The Giza criminal court on Saturday also sentenced eight defendants to life in prison on similar charges that include attacking security forces and possessing weapons and explosives.
Another 12 defendants received 10 years in prison.
The defendants, three of which were tried in absentia, are charged with attacking the Three Pyramids Hotel in Haram street in Giza, which was receiving a bus transporting around 40 tourists.
“During the period from 2015 till 2016, the defendants led a group that was established against the law and provided them with weapons and money, attacked the Three Pyramids Hotel, acquired firearms and ammunition and committed the crimes of assembling, using force with police and vandalizing public properties,” according to the probes.
Presiding judge Mohamed Nagy Shehata said the defendants were sentenced after referring the case to the Grand Mufti, reviewing articles of the law and hearing the prosecution and defense.
He added that the defendants terrorized people, sought to spread terror and targeted the country’s tourists, harming Egypt’s safe image and damaging tourism and the economy.
In 2018, the Court of Cassation upheld a decision to add the defendants to the “lists of terrorist entities and figures.”
According to the probe, the charges include “possessing six cartridges, three unlicensed pistols, explosives and black gunpowder to be used in an activity that disturbs public security.”
