Death Sentences Issued for 36 Defendants in Attacks on Coptic Churches in Egypt

A military court in Egypt has issued death sentences for 36 individuals accused of involvement in the deadly attacks on Coptic Christian churches over the past two years. The military court has reviewed a total of 48 cases related to these attacks. The defendants are charged with offenses such as membership and leadership in terrorist groups, disrupting the work of officials and government institutions, and acting against national security and unity. Among the 48 defendants, 36 have received death sentences. According to Egyptian law, the initial court ruling is sent for consultation to the Grand Mufti of the country, although the Mufti's opinion is not binding. During the attacks in April of last year on a church in Tanta, 100 kilometers from Cairo, and a church in Alexandria, at least 46 people were killed. These attacks occurred a week before Easter, one of the main Christian holidays, and while Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, was scheduled to visit Egypt. The group known as the Islamic State claimed that its members carried out the attacks by detonating explosive vests. Following the April attacks, the President of Egypt called for a state of emergency in the country, and the number of soldiers and security forces around government buildings, churches, and sensitive locations increased. The attacks did not prevent Pope Francis from visiting, as he arrived in Cairo on April 28 of that year and met with members of the Coptic Christian community, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Imam of Al-Azhar University. Five months before the April attacks, a suicide bombing at a church in Cairo had killed at least 26 people. In May 2017, an armed attack on a bus carrying Coptic Christians resulted in at least 28 deaths. In October, a Coptic priest was killed by machete blows, and in January, an attack on a church in southern Cairo left at least 10 dead.