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CAIRO, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court on Thursday sentenced 10 Islamists to death over charges of establishing a terror group linked to al-Qaida, official MENA news agency reported.
The 10 were among 68 defendants tried at Cairo's Criminal Court.
The sentence will still have to be reviewed by the Grand Mufti, the country's highest Jurist for Islamic legal judgment.
The convicts were accused of "forming and running a terrorist organization linked to al-Qaida, targeting state properties and its armed forces, police apparatus and Coptic citizens, in order to spread disorder and undermine social peace."
The sentencing occurred against the background of a massive "war against terrorism" declared by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi who, as then military chief, led the overthrow of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, following mass protests against Morsi's one-year rule.
Surprisingly however, the court acquitted Mohamed al-Zawahri, brother of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri, of the charge of running the terrorist group affiliated with his brother. Fifteen others were also acquitted.
Twenty-two others were sentenced to 25 years in prison, 16 to 15 years in prison, one to a year in prison. Three defendants, who were already dead, had their case dropped.
