On 10 June 2024, the Court of Cassation, Egypt’s highest court, issued its final irrevocable decision approving the death sentence pronounced by a criminal court against policeman Rabei Mustafa Khalifa who murdered two Copts in the city of Minya, some 250km south of Cairo, in December 2018.
The defence lawyers had claimed Khalifa was mentally deranged, but after he was put under medical observation at a public mental hospital, he was found to be responsible for his actions.
Minya Criminal Court had on 2 April 2019 handed a final death sentence to the policeman after it issued its judgement two months earlier (in February 2019), but had to refer it to the State Mufti for approval. The Mufti is a Muslim cleric in charge of issuing fatwa (Islamic legal opinion) and the State Mufti is a high-ranking Islamic scholar who undertakes that task. The Mufti’s approval is a legal precondition for a death sentence in Egypt to become final.
The Mufti approved Khalifa’s death sentence.
The Copts Emad Kamal Sadeq, 49, and his son David Sadeq, 21, were shot by Khalifa on 12 December 2018. The two men were construction contractors who were supervising a job of removing debris from a demolished building across the street from al-Nahda Evangelical church on which Khalifa was stationed as a guard. A dispute erupted between the Copts and Khalifa, who then opened fire at them using his police gun. The two lost their lives.
Egypt’s highest court approves death sentence for policeman who killed Copts in Minya
Watani International
11 June 2024