Detainee executed for 2013 murder of military officer in Ismailia

Prison authorities executed Mohamed Abu Sri in a Cairo prison on Tuesday morning, according to lawyer Ezzat Ghoneim. An Ismailia military court sentenced Abu Sri to death for killing an Armed Forces officer in a 2013 attack on a checkpoint in Ismailia.

According to the case documents, three people attacked Colonel Ahmed Mandour in a drive-by shooting in November 2013 while the officer was on his way to a mosque near the Ismailia checkpoint where he was stationed. The documents list the attackers as: Mohamed Abu Sri, Faisal Saad, who was sentenced to death in absentia, and Hatem Hassan.

The case documents state that Abu Sri drove the car, while the second defendant, Saad, videotaped the attack. Hassan, who was found dead after the attack, opened fire on the police officer, who later died upon arrival at the hospital.

The prosecution’s case rested primarily on Abu Sri’s confession, which he delivered after his arrest in Ismailia on November 14, 2013.

The Ismailia military criminal court convicted Abu Sri of premeditated murder, the possession of firearms and ammunition, and acquiring classified information by surveying the military checkpoint. The Cairo Appeals Prison carried out Abu Sri’s execution early Tuesday morning.

In recent months, the authorities have carried out several death sentences issued by military courts. Recently, 15 defendants were executed on December 26 for the murder of nine military officers. This January, four defendants accused of attacking armed forces students were executed on January 2, and another three defendants accused of kidnap and rape were executed on January 10.

Ghoneim, a lawyer involved in several military cases, noted that the recent executions, carried out just hours after the final verdicts were issued, violate the military judiciary law, which mandates at least 15 days between when a final death sentence verdict is issued, and when the execution is carried out.

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