CAIRO, Mar 18 (Aswat Masriya) - The Giza Criminal Court referred 22 defendants on Wednesday to the Grand Mufti to issue an opinion on sentencing them to death for breaking into the Kerdasa Police Station in July 2013.

The court is set to issue its final verdict on April 20, after receiving the Grand Mufti's opinion. The 23rd defendant in the case, a juvenile, will also be handed a sentence on the same day.

Of the the 23 defendants, eight were sentenced in absentia.

The defendants are charged with murdering a policeman, attempted murder of others, use of violence, possession of weapons, assembly and vandalism.

Consulting Egypt's Grand Mufti is a procedural step adopted in all cases which involve death sentences. The Mufti's rulings are not binding, yet it is customary for the court to adopt them.

The judge presiding over the trial, Mohamed Nagi Shehata, has issued numerous death sentences during the past year.

The most recent of which was earlier this week, when he preliminarily sentenced to death Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and 13 others for managing an "operations room to resist the state and spread chaos" in addition to planning to burn churches and police stations following the dispersal of the two pro-Mohamed Mursi camps in August 2013.

Militancy in Egypt has seen a significant rise since July 2013, after the military ouster of Mursi following mass protests against his rule. While most attacks target security forces in North Sinai, operations have been carried out elsewhere including Cairo.