Defendant sentenced to life over involvement in Kerdasa church arson

Giza Criminal Court on Saturday sentenced to life in jail and fined EGP 20,000 a defendant for his involvement in setting on fire a Kerdasa Church, attempted killing and violence acts committed in the wake of the dispersal of the banned Muslim Brotherhood Rabaa Al Adawaiya set-in camp.

The defendant, Ahmed Hassan, was previously sentenced to life in jail in abstentia along with 71 defendants. Ahmed Hassan was recently arrested and was retried over the charges leveled against him.

The church in question is located in Kerdasa, a Cairo suburb, not far from the Giza Pyramids. It was torched overnight on 14-15 August 2013.

Violence broke out in Kerdasa and all over Egypt after MB-oriented president Mohamed Morsi was ousted (July 3), and the Muslim Brotherhood held rallies in Nahda Square and Rabaa El Adaweya (August 14).

About 60 churches, Christian institutions, homes and shops were attacked; 13 police officers were killed.

In the previous trial, Judge Mohamed Nagi Shehata of the Giza Criminal Court sentenced 71 defendants affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood to life imprisonment on Wednesday and fined them EGP 20,000 each, deeming them guilty of burning a church in Kerdasa in August 2013.

Two minors were also sentenced to 10 years in prison in the same case.

The charges also included attempted murder and large-scale acts of violence following the dispersal of the Rabaa and al-Nahda sit-ins.

Source: MENA