An Egyptian criminal court sentenced militant Adel Habara to death on Saturday, alongside six others in a retrial for the killing of 25 soldiers in Rafah in North Sinai in August 2013.The seven were sentenced to death by hanging, three were sentenced to life in prison, 22 people were sentenced to 15 years of high security prison and three were acquitted.
The defendants had faced charges of committing terrorist acts and collaborating with al-Qaada. A ruling was previously issued on this case and Habara was also sentenced to death but the verdict was nullified when Egypt's supreme court, the Court of Cassation ordered a retrial in June 2015 after the defence team filed for appeal.
Today's verdict can still be appealed since death sentences can be appealed twice in the Egyptian judicial system.
Militant attacks targeting Egyptian security forces have surged since mid-2013 and the Rafah attack took place as this insurgency began to intensify.
Habara's case had been referred to Egypt's grand mufti and he was sentenced to death several times before, including once in absentia for complicity in two bombings in Sinai in 2004 and 2006, which killed 42 people.
Most recently, he was referred to the grand mufti earlier this month, in a procedural step taken in Egypt ahead of issuing a death sentence. The case dates back to 2012 and he stands accused of "premeditated murder" of a policeman in Sharqiya, a province north of Cairo.
The court will make its final decision on Habara on December 6, after the mufti issues his opinion. The mufti, the state's top religious authority's opinion is not binding but it is customary for the court to adopt it.
In September, a court upheld the death sentence against Habara on charges of starting a terrorist group, contacting Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria and engaging in violent acts targeting the police and army.
