EGYPT: MILITANT SENTENCED TO DEATH, 8 TO LIFE FOR ANTI-CHRISTIAN ATTACK

An Egyptian court sentenced an Islamist to death by hanging and eight others to life in prison on charges of setting up a hardline group targeting the country’s Christian minority, legal sources said.
The Cairo Criminal Court also handed down 11 co-defendants 15 years in prison each in the same case, the sources added.
The defendants were also charged with seeking to overthrow the government and assaulting police.
Sixteen of the convicts were tried in absentia.
All the rulings are subjected to appeal.
The case is related to a deadly attack on a jewellery shop owned by a Christian man in May 2008.
The shop owner and three Christian workers were killed in the attack in the area of Al Zaytoun in north-eastern Cairo.