The Court of Cassation in Egypt has scheduled a session for July 8 to rule on the appeal filed by the defendants against their death sentence in the case of journalist Shaimaa Gamal's murder. The prosecution accepted the appeal in form but rejected it in substance, as the Criminal Cassation Office requested the affirmation of the death sentences against the defendants.
Previously, the court unanimously sentenced the defendants, Ayman Abdel Fattah Haggag and Hussein Mohamed Al-Gharabli, to death by hanging for the first and third charges of premeditated murder. The Attorney General had ordered the defendants to be referred to criminal trial at the conclusion of the investigations. The investigations revealed that the first defendant, Ayman Haggag (the victim's husband), intended to eliminate her due to threats she made to expose his secrets and extort money from him. He offered the second defendant, Hussein Al-Gharabli, a financial reward to assist him in the murder, which the latter accepted.
