Egypt Watch

The State Security Affairs Office refuses to ratify the ruling that acquitted six people

On Saturday, human rights lawyer Khaled Al-Masry said that the State Security Affairs Office refused to ratify a ruling issued by an Emergency State Security Court that acquitted six people of charges of joining a terrorist group and carrying out acts of violence. Al-Masry added that his clients, acquitted a year ago, were shocked to be re-arrested recently.

The Office of State Security Affairs, authorized by the president to ratify verdicts issued by Emergency State Security Courts, refused to confirm their acquittal. They returned the case to the Cairo Court of Appeal to designate another circuit to try them. The Public Prosecution accuses them of committing acts of violence that targeted Christian citizens, police officers, and army men between 2013 and 2015, including the assassination of a National Security Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad al-Hofy. It also accuses them of targeting the security force appointed to guard the National Bank branch on Al-Batal Ahmed Abdel Aziz Street in the Mohandessin neighbourhood in Cairo.