Egypt’s Attorney General Nabil Sadek referred on Sunday to military court 292 suspect terrorists who are accused of forming terrorist cells, the Aswat Masriya news website reported, citing a statement issued by the Attorney General.
The defendants, reportedly members of Sinai Province militant group, are accused of “carrying out several suicide bomb attacks mostly in North Sinai, and planning to assassinate President Abdel Fatah al Sisi,” according to the statement.
158 defendants had already been arrested and interrogated by the Supreme State Security Prosecution over the past year, while the rest will be tried in absentia, the statement added.
In November 2014, the militant group changed its name to Wilayat Sinai (Sinai State) before it pledged its allegiance to IS. It had claimed responsibility for most of the anti-government terrorist attacks over the past a few years.
Civilian perpetrators of attacks on Egyptian state institutions, military installations or personnel are tried before military courts, according to a presidential decree issued in 2014.
