Egypt court sentences 11 Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis members to death

An Egyptian military court on Tuesday (November 28th) sentenced to death 11 defendants accused of carrying out attacks under the banner of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which pledged allegiance to the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS).

The court is set to issue its final verdict on December 20th, after the preliminary death sentence is referred to the Grand Mufti, whose opinion is legally required but not binding.

Only three of those sentenced on Tuesday are in custody, with the rest sentenced in absentia, according to Egypt's Ahram Online.

The most prominent defendant, who remains at large, is dismissed army officer Hesham Ashmawi, who is now an emir of al-Mourabitoun, an extremist group in Libya affiliated with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Investigations conducted by the court into the case, dubbed "Ansar Beit al-Maqdis 3", revealed that the defendants had joined Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which in 2014 pledged allegiance to ISIS and renamed itself Wilayat Sinai.

The court documents showed that defendant Salmi al-Mahasnah, leader of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis at the time, had divided the group into two cells.

The first was in North Sinai under the command of Shadi al-Manie, assisted by Kamal Ali Allam.

The second cell was in the Western Desert, Delta and Cairo under the command of Ashmawi, assisted by Ayman Nour and Emad al-Din Abdel Hamid who was killed in the recent operations in the Western Desert following al-Wahat attack on October 20th.

The court documents revealed that the defendants carried out a number of attacks, including the attack on al-Farafra checkpoint, in which 25 soldiers were killed in July 2014.

Mufti to issue opinion on death sentences

"The defendants whose cases were referred to the Mufti are the last group of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis members before the group swore allegiance to ISIS and became Wilayat Sinai," military expert Maj. Gen. Mohammed Munir Hamed told Al-Mashareq.

They were part of the most dangerous group that carried attacks against Egypt, he said.

The referral of defendants to the Grand Mufti comes before a death sentence is carried out, Hamed said.

"According to Egyptian law, a civilian or military court that issues a death sentence must send the case documents to the Republic’s Mufti for his religious opinion on the judgement," he added.

"The Mufti’s opinion is not binding to the court," he said.