The High State Security Court, Egypt, commuted the...

The High State Security Court, Egypt, commuted the death sentence of Anwar Hamed Abbas, an Islamic militant, to life in prison. The court, acting under emergency laws in place since 1981, handed down a jail sentence of life to Abbas, who received a death sentence while he was a fugitive in 1996. Under Egyptian law, life in prison is 25 years. In announcing his verdict, presiding judge Adel Gomaa said he reduced the sentence because of "attenuating circumstances," the court source said. Abbas, a leader of the outlawed armed Jamaa Islamiya group, turned himself into the authorities after his return from the United States in October 2003. He was convicted in absentia of having taken part in the 1995 murders of three senior security officials in the southern town of Qena. According to Egyptian law, anyone who is sentenced in his absence has the right to a new trial upon his return to Egypt.