9 convicts executed over killing Egypt's late top prosecutor

CAIRO - 20 February 2019: Legal sources said that nine individuals were executed over assassinating the country's top prosecutor Hesham Barakat in 2015.

The executed individuals were convicted of bombing the convoy of late Hesham Barakat on June 15, 2015 during the holy month of Ramadan. Perpetrators were convicted of deliberate and premeditated killing, possession of prohibited weapons, and explosives acquisition.

The Court of Cassation upheld in November 2018 the death sentences against 10 convicts in the case, as it considered the appeals of 67 defendants.

The appealed rulings include death and life sentences as well as 10-year-terms in prison. On April 19, the Court of Cassation rejected appeals by 46 convicts in the same case upholding their enlistment as terrorists for three years.