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Court considers death sentence for 4 accused of rape
Defendants accused of mob sexual assaults stand behind bars at a court in Cairo June 25, 2014. REUTERS/Al Youm Al Saabi Newspaper
CAIRO, Nov 6 (Aswat Masriya) - An appeals court referred on Thursday four defendants accused of rape to Egypt's Grand Mufti to consider their death sentences.
The court postponed the verdict of six other defendants to December 18.
The 10 defendants are accused of kidnapping a woman from the governorate of Kafr El-Sheikh and raping her in 2006.
The defendants had already appealed their sentences before, which makes Thursday's death sentences final, should the Mufti ratify them.
The Grand Mufti's decisions are not legally binding, yet it is customary for the court to adopt them.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which ruled Egypt since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011 until the inauguration of ousted President Mohamed Mursi in June 2012, issued a decree in April 2011 maximising the penalty of rape to include the death sentence.
