The Cairo Criminal Court, on Monday, handed final death sentences to leading militant Hisham Ashmawy and 36 others in the case known as Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, over charges of committing more than 54 assassination attacks on policemen.
The court’s verdict was issued after getting the approval of the Grand Mufti.
Ashmawy has been involved in the assassination of top prosecutor Hisham Barakat and other attacks including Al-Wahat terror assault, which led to the death of 16 Egyptian security personnel.
He was also found guilty for attempting to assassinate former interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim, plotting to target ships crossing the Suez Canal, as well as helping a member of the Ansar Beit al-Maqdis terrorist group escape from a government hospital in Ismailia.
In this case, there are 208 defendants who are charged with 54 crimes that consist of assassinations of policemen, attempted murder of former Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim, and bombings of security institutions’ buildings.
Ashmawi was a former army officer and was captured in Libya late in 2018 by forces of the Libyan National Army.
Earlier in November, a military court sentenced Ashmawi to death for his participation in scores of attacks on government targets. In recent years, he has been considered the country’s most wanted terrorist for his intelligence expertise.
According to AP, Ashmawi, in his 40s, helped found Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, a jihadi organization based in northern Sinai, before he fled to Libya.
“His military expertise which lasted until 2011 when he left the army, transformed the tiny group into a well-organized guerrilla band that later inflicted painful blows on security forces in Sinai,” AP report read.
After fleeing to Libya, he created al-Mourabitoun, a militant group blamed for most of the attacks in Egypt’s remote western desert, such as a 2017 ambush that killed nearly 30 Christian pilgrims on their way to a monastery.
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